Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 3.2 > Subtitle V > Chapter 65 > Article 3 - Transportation and Sale of Animals.

• Adequate space: means sufficient space to allow each animal to (i) easily stand, sit, lie, turn about, and make all other normal body movements in a comfortable, normal position for the animal and (ii) interact safely with other animals in the enclosure. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Adoption: means the transfer of ownership of a dog or a cat, or any other companion animal, from a releasing agency to an individual. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Animal: means any nonhuman vertebrate species except fish. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Animal control officer: means a person appointed as an animal control officer or deputy animal control officer as provided in § Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• care: means the responsible practice of good animal husbandry, handling, production, management, confinement, feeding, watering, protection, shelter, transportation, treatment, and, when necessary, euthanasia, appropriate for the age, species, condition, size and type of the animal and the provision of veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering or impairment of health. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Collar: means a well-fitted device, appropriate to the age and size of the animal, attached to the animal's neck in such a way as to prevent trauma or injury to the animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Commercial dog breeder: means any person who, during any 12-month period, maintains 30 or more adult female dogs for the primary purpose of the sale of their offspring provided that a person who breeds an animal regulated under federal law as a research animal shall not be deemed to be a commercial dog breeder. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Consumer: means any natural person purchasing an animal from a dealer or pet shop or hiring the services of a boarding establishment. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Dealer: means any person who in the regular course of business for compensation or profit buys, sells, transfers, exchanges, or barters companion animals. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Department: means the Department of Education. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Department: means the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Elementary: includes kindergarten. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• elementary or secondary: include elementary, middle, and high school grades. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Enclosure: means a structure used to house or restrict animals from running at large. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• exercise: means the opportunity for the animal to move sufficiently to maintain normal muscle tone and mass for the age, species, size, and condition of the animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Facility: means a building or portion thereof as designated by the State Veterinarian, other than a private residential dwelling and its surrounding grounds, that is used to contain a primary enclosure or enclosures in which animals are housed or kept. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Humane: means any action taken in consideration of and with the intent to provide for the animal's health and well-being. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Humane investigator: means a person who has been appointed by a circuit court as a humane investigator as provided in § Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• inhabitants: means with reference to any county, city, town, political subdivision of the Commonwealth or any combination thereof, the natural persons in such county, city, town, political subdivision or combination as shown by the unadjusted United States decennial census last preceding the time at which any provision dependent upon population is being applied or the time as of which it is being construed. See Virginia Code 1-235
• Inspector: means a State Animal Welfare Inspector employed pursuant to § Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Law-enforcement officer: means any person who is a full-time or part-time employee of a police department or sheriff's office that is part of or administered by the Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof and who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Livestock: includes all domestic or domesticated: bovine animals; equine animals; ovine animals; porcine animals; cervidae animals; capradae animals; animals of the genus Lama or Vicugna; ratites; fish or shellfish in aquaculture facilities, as defined in § Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Middle school: means separate schools for early adolescents and the middle school grades that might be housed at elementary or high schools. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• New owner: means an individual who is legally competent to enter into a binding agreement pursuant to subdivision B 2 of § Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Owner: means any person who: (i) has a right of property in an animal; (ii) keeps or harbors an animal; (iii) has an animal in his care; or (iv) acts as a custodian of an animal. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• parents: means any parent, guardian, legal custodian, or other person having control or charge of a child. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Person of school age: means a person who will have reached his fifth birthday on or before September 30 of the school year and who has not reached twenty years of age on or before August 1 of the school year. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Pet shop: means a retail establishment where companion animals are bought, sold, exchanged, or offered for sale or exchange to the general public. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Private animal shelter: means a facility operated for the purpose of finding permanent adoptive homes for animals that is used to house or contain animals and that is owned or operated by an incorporated, nonprofit, and nongovernmental entity, including a humane society, animal welfare organization, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or any other similar organization. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Public animal shelter: means a facility operated by the Commonwealth, or any locality, for the purpose of impounding or sheltering seized, stray, homeless, abandoned, unwanted, or surrendered animals or a facility operated for the same purpose under a contract with any locality. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Recess: A temporary interruption of the legislative business.
• Releasing agency: means (i) a public animal shelter or (ii) a private animal shelter, humane society, animal welfare organization, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, or other similar entity or home-based rescue that releases companion animals for adoption. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500
• School board: means the school board that governs a school division. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 1-206
• State Board: means the Board of Education. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• State Veterinarian: means the veterinarian employed by the Commissioner as provided in § Virginia Code 3.2-5900
• Superintendent: means the Superintendent of Public Instruction. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• Weaned: means that an animal is capable of and physiologically accustomed to ingestion of solid food or food customary for the adult of the species and has ingested such food, without nursing, for a period of at least five days. See Virginia Code 3.2-6500