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Using The Car To Abandon Animals Is Considered A Very Serious Offense, It Can Cost You Your Driver’s License And Much More
Yes, now things have gotten serious. If you use your car to abandon dogs, cats, or any other animal, prepare yourself: you might end up losing your driver’s license, facing a heavy fine, and being prohibited from driving for more than a year. The proposal has already been approved by one of the committees in the Chamber of Deputies and, if it becomes law, will make this type of abandonment a very serious offense. Understand everything that is at stake.
New Law Targets Those Who Abandon Animals With Vehicles
The Commission of Transportation and Transport of the Chamber of Deputies has greenlit the Bill 25/24, which directly addresses a cruel but unfortunately common practice: using vehicles to abandon animals on public roads. The text proposes to classify this act as a very serious offense, which means 7 points on the driver’s license and a fine of R$ 293.47, according to the Brazilian Traffic Code (CTB).
But the penalty does not stop there. The caught driver may also have their right to drive suspended for 12 months. And if the abandonment involves dogs or cats, the suspension period increases to 18 months, equivalent to one and a half years away from the wheel.
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It’s Not Just The Driver: Those Who Help Will Also Be Punished
An important point: the proposal states that anyone who collaborates with the abandonment, even if they are not driving, will also be held accountable. In other words, if someone accompanies you and participates in the act, that person is also subject to the penalties provided.
Understand Why The Penalty Got Harsher
According to the project’s rapporteur, Deputy Ricardo Ayres (Republicans-TO), the use of a car to commit this type of cruelty makes it even easier for the offender — which needs to be firmly discouraged.
“In the case of animal abandonment using vehicles, the availability of the car contributes to facilitating the completion of this cruelty. Excluding it from traffic will undoubtedly help to make this behavior less frequent,” Ayres explained in an official interview.
The approved project is a consolidated version proposed by Ayres, which brought together three other similar initiatives that were being processed in the Chamber: PLs 236/24, 951/24, and 257/24, presented by deputies Delegate Matheus Laiola (Union-PR), Marcelo Queiroz (PP-RJ), and Delegate Bruno Lima (PP-SP).
What Is Left To Become Law?
Despite the approval in the committee, the project still has a way to go. Now it will be analyzed by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and Citizenship (CCJ). If it passes there, it goes to voting in the Chamber’s Plenary and then needs to be approved in the Senate. Only then can it be sanctioned and actually become a new law in effect in Brazil.
Current Law Already Punishes Animal Cruelty, But Now The Net Is Tightening
Today, those who mistreat or abandon animals are already subject to penalties, as outlined in Law 9.605/98, also known as the Environmental Crimes Law. It establishes that anyone who commits mistreatment, abuse, injuries or mutilations of wildlife or domestic animals can face three months to five years of detention, in addition to a fine.
The difference is that now, with this new proposal, abandonment using vehicles directly enters the Brazilian Traffic Code, broadening the range of consequences and further complicating impunity.
Animal Abandonment: A Serious Problem That Demands Answers
According to a recent survey by the World Health Organization (WHO), Brazil has over 30 million abandoned animals, with about 10 million cats and 20 million dogs. And most of the cases occur precisely in public areas or highways, facilitated by the use of cars.
The harsher criminalization, with a direct impact on the driver’s license and the right to drive, is seen by specialists as a more effective way to curb this type of behavior. In an interview with the portal G1, environmental lawyer Maurício Varallo defended the measure as a “necessary step to make Brazil less tolerant of cruelty against animals.”
The text is still in progress, but the message has already been sent: using a vehicle to abandon animals could end up being very costly and we are not just talking about money. Losing the driver’s license and being unable to drive for up to 18 months can be just the beginning of the consequences. The expectation is that, with the new law, enforcement will intensify and more people will think twice before committing this kind of cruelty.
And what do you think of this new proposal? Is the punishment fair or should it be even stricter? Share your opinion in the comments and spread this news to those who need to understand the impact of this new law.
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