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Delegates hear bill to expand penalties for harming emergency response animals
Summary
Delegate Dylan Baylor told the House Judiciary Committee HB563 would extend legal protections and new misdemeanors for intentionally harassing, injuring or killing emergency response animals, including search‑and‑rescue dogs; law‑enforcement witnesses described training costs and an incident at M&T Bank Stadium.
Annapolis — Delegate Dylan Baylor asked the House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 19 to give a favorable report to HB563, legislation that would expand Maryland’s legal protections for emergency response animals and create new misdemeanor offenses for intentionally interfering with or injuring them. Baylor said the change would extend coverage beyond K‑9s owned by law‑enforcement agencies to include search‑and‑rescue dogs directed by government agencies.
The bill’s supporters included Maryland State Police handlers and union representatives who described the training, public‑safety roles and expense involved in maintaining canine teams. “The state of Maryland invests in excess of over $30,000 to procure and train these dogs,” Corporal Justin Follis testified, describing a December 2024 incident at a Baltimore Ravens home game in which an intoxicated fan struck his explosive‑detection dog on the rear end. Follis said the episode could require remedial retraining and possibly render a dog unusable for deployments.
Sgt. Brian Gill of the State Law Enforcement Officers Labor Alliance and volunteer handler Gregory Miller, with Chesapeake Search Dogs, said the animals perform vital tasks — from finding missing people to explosive detection — and that deliberate interference can delay rescues and endanger lives. Miller noted that search animals work in hazardous conditions and that years of training and volunteer hours are destroyed when an animal is harmed.
Committee members questioned whether the bill would preserve self‑defense as an available legal defense and whether the proposed misdemeanors would adequately address incidents involving firearms or lethal injury. Baylor said the bill removes an existing felony provision tied to aggravated cruelty but adds separate misdemeanor categories for harassment/interference and for causing serious physical injury or death; he indicated he would fix any drafting errors to preserve legitimate self‑defense claims. Baylor also said an amendment is expected to explicitly include horses used in search and rescue.
The hearing concluded with no formal vote; sponsors asked the committee to move the bill forward so courts and prosecutors have clearer tools to hold people accountable for harming animals that support emergency response work.
