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ORS 167.325

Applied in 30 court decisions — leading case State v. Newcomb (2016)

Most recently applied in 346 Or. App. 283 - State v. Farm (December 2025)

1985 c.662 §4; 2013 c.382 §5; 2013 c.719 §4

How often courts cite this section

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citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) A person commits the crime of animal neglect in the second degree if, except as otherwise authorized by law, the person intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence:

(a) Fails to provide minimum care for an animal in such person’s custody or control; or

(b) Tethers a domestic animal in the person’s custody or control and the tethering results in physical injury to the domestic animal.

(2) Animal neglect in the second degree is a Class B misdemeanor.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2) of this section, animal neglect in the second degree is a Class C felony if:

(a) The person committing the offense has previously been convicted of two or more offenses under this section, ORS 167.330 or the equivalent laws of another jurisdiction;

(b) The offense was part of a criminal episode involving 11 or more animals; or

(c) The person knowingly commits the offense in the immediate presence of a minor child and the person has one or more previous convictions for an offense involving domestic violence as defined in ORS 135.230. For purposes of this paragraph, a minor child is in the immediate presence of animal neglect if the neglect is seen or directly perceived in any other manner by the minor child.

(4) The Oregon Criminal Justice Commission shall classify animal neglect in the second degree under subsection (3) of this section:

(a) As crime category 6 if 11 to 40 animals were the subject of the neglect.

(b) As crime category 7 if more than 40 animals were the subject of the neglect or if the offense is a felony because of circumstances described in subsection (3)(a) or (c) of this section.

Official source: Oregon State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Oregon statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.