AN ACT to criminalize the act of causing a person under EIGHTEEN years of age to be present at an exhibition featuring animal fighting.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 14‑362 reads as rewritten:

§ 14‑362.  Cockfighting.

A person who instigates, promotes, conducts, is employed at, allows property under his ownership or control to be used for, participates as a spectator at, causes a person under 18 years of age to be present at, or profits from from, an exhibition featuring the fighting of a cock is guilty of a Class I felony. A lease of property that is used or is intended to be used for an exhibition featuring the fighting of a cock is void, and a lessor who knows this use is made or is intended to be made of his property is under a duty to evict the lessee immediately.

SECTION 2.  G.S. 14‑362.1 reads as rewritten:

§ 14‑362.1.  Animal fights and baiting, other than cock fights, dog fights and dog baiting.

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(c)        A person who participates as a spectator at at, or causes a person under 18 years of age to be present at, an exhibition featuring the fighting or baiting of an animal, other than a cock or a dog, is guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.

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SECTION 3.  G.S. 14‑362.2 reads as rewritten:

§ 14‑362.2.  Dog fighting and baiting.

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(c)        A person who participates as a spectator at at, or causes a person under 18 years of age to be present at, an exhibition featuring the baiting of a dog or the fighting of a dog with another dog or with another animal is guilty of a Class H felony.

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SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2021, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.