The infliction of physical pain, suffering, or death upon an animal, when not necessary for purposes of training or discipline or (in the case of death) to procure food or to release the animal from incurable suffering, but done wantonly, for mere sport, for the indulgence of a cruel and vindictive temper, or with reckless indifference to its pain. Com. v. Lufkiu, 7 Allen (Mass.) 5S1; State v. Avery, 44 N. H. 302; Paine v. Bergh, 1 City CL R. (N. Y.) 100; State v. Porter, 112 N. C. 887, 10 S. E. 915; State v. Bosworth, 54 Conn. 1, 4 Atl. 248; McKinney v. State, 81 Ga. 1G4, 9 S. E. 1091; Waters v. People, 23 Colo. 33, 40 Pac. 112, 33 L. R. A. 830, 58 Am. St. Rep. 215.
Black’s Law Online Dictionary
