The Mandalorian, season two, Chapter 9, The Marshal, included Tuskin Raiders using Banthas as live bait for hunting a Krayt Dragon. Would such a use of a domesticated animal violate any cruelty to animal laws in the United States?
Cruelty to animals in California is defined as follows:
(a) “ …every person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal, is guilty of a crime punishable pursuant to subdivision (d).”
(d) A violation of subdivision (a), (b), or (c) is punishable as a felony by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment, or alternatively, as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.
Cal. Pen. Code § 597.
Leaving a bantha out for a Krayt Dragon as a snack, is intentionally leaving an animal to be killed by an apex predator, which sounds like cruelty to animals. Moreover, the waiting for a Krayt Dragon to strike is clearly freighting for the bantha, which could make it qualify as torture. However, that is not the end of the analysis. Animals such as worms are used as live bait in fishing, which has been rejected as a slippery slope for being cruelty to animals. See, In re William G, 52 Md. App. 131, 133 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1982).
Given the massive size of a Krayt Dragon, coupled with the ability to tunnel and spray acid venom, it is fair to compare a bantha being used as bait like a worm to catch a fish. However, it is worth noting that the bantha were not being used like a “bait animal,” which is when a small dog, cat, or raccoon, is placed in front of a treadmill for a “fighting dog” to chase for exercise. See, Ware v. State, 949 So. 2d 169, 174 n.7 (Ala. Crim. App. 2006). Those situations would clearly be cruelty to animals, but nothing like that happens with a bantha being used with explosives to kill a Krayt Dragon.
