West Virginia § 19-20-9 - 19-20-9. Failure to register dog or kennel; alteration or forging of registration certificate or tag; penalties.

§ 19-20-9. 19-20-9. Failure to register dog or kennel; alteration or forging of registration certificate or tag; penalties.

Any person who owns, keeps, or harbors a dog, or who owns or operates a kennel, subject to registration under the provisions of this article, and who fails, refuses, or neglects to register such dog or kennel, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than $100.

Any person who shall alter, or forge any certificate or tag, provided for in this article, or display, present, or utter such certificate as valid with knowledge that it has been altered or forged, or who knowingly causes or permits any dog owned, kept or harbored by him to wear any fictitious, altered, or invalid registration tag in place of a valid tag as required under the provisions of this article, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than thirty days or by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $500, or by both such fine and imprisonment.