1. Anyone who, outside of legally regulated activities and by any means or procedure, including sexual acts, causes injury to a domestic, tamed, or domesticated animal, or one living temporarily or permanently under human control, requiring veterinary treatment for the restoration of its health, shall be punished with imprisonment for three to eighteen months or a fine of six to twelve months, and with special disqualification for one to three years from practicing any profession, trade, or business related to animals and from owning animals.
If the injuries described in the preceding paragraph are caused to a vertebrate animal not included in the preceding paragraph, the penalty shall be imprisonment for three to twelve months or a fine of three to six months, in addition to special disqualification for one to three years from practicing any profession, trade, or business related to animals and from owning animals.
If the crime was committed using firearms, the judge or court may, with due justification, impose the penalty of deprivation of the right to possess and carry firearms for a period of one to four years.
2. The penalties provided for in the preceding paragraph shall be increased by half when any of the following aggravating circumstances are present:
a) Using weapons, instruments, objects, means, methods, or forms that could be dangerous to the life or health of the animal.
b) Committing the act with cruelty.
c) Causing the animal the loss or impairment of a sense, organ, or principal limb.
d) Committing the act by its owner or the person entrusted with the care of the animal.
e) Committing the act in the presence of a minor or a particularly vulnerable person.
f) Committing the act for profit.
g) Committing the act to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause psychological harm to a current or former spouse or a person who is or has been in a similar relationship of affection with the perpetrator, even without cohabitation.
h) Committing the act in a public event or disseminating it through information or communication technologies.
i) Using poison, explosives, or other instruments or methods of similar destructive or non-selective effectiveness.
3. When, as a result of the acts described in the first paragraph of this article, the death of a domestic, tamed, or domesticated animal, or one that lives temporarily or permanently under human control, is caused, a prison sentence of twelve to twenty-four months shall be imposed, in addition to a special disqualification of two to four years from practicing any profession, trade, or business related to animals and from owning animals.
When, as a result of the acts described in the first paragraph of this article, a vertebrate animal not included in the preceding paragraph is killed, a prison sentence of six to eighteen months or a fine of eighteen to twenty-four months shall be imposed, in addition to a special disqualification of two to four years from practicing any profession, trade, or business related to animals and from owning animals.
If the offense was committed using firearms, the judge or court may, with due justification, impose the penalty of deprivation of the right to possess and carry firearms for a period of two to five years.
When any of the circumstances described in the preceding paragraph are present, the judge or court shall impose the penalties in their upper half.
4. If the injuries sustained do not require veterinary treatment or the animal has been seriously mistreated without causing injury, a fine of one to two months or community service of one to thirty days shall be imposed. Likewise, a special disqualification penalty of three months to one year will be imposed for the exercise of a profession, trade or business related to animals and for the possession of animals.