New York has passed a law sparing animals from body art such as tattoos and piercings.The state's governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed the law on Monday and it will take after about four months.

A NY Assembly member, Linda Rosenthal, sponsored the measure saying the practice is simply cruel. She added that while humans can tolerate the pain of tattoos or piercings for their own "aesthetic" pursuit, pet animals could not make their own decisions..

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The measure did provide exceptions for body labelling supervised by a veterinarian for biomedical reasons or for identification. The legislator said the markings are intended, in one case, for pets like her cat which was given a small green mark after being spayed by a veterinarian.

For purposes of identification, the measure allows tattoos but they are limited to letters and numbers provided for in a tattoo identification list. The restriction does not apply to ear tags on guinea pigs and rabbits.

Violations of the law are punishable with 15 days in prison and fines up to US$250, the state governor said. Adding pet body art is animal abuse, pure and simple, he stated.

A different version of the law was filed in New Jersey this summer. Pennsylvania was the first to pass a similar legislation and is the only other state so far to ban pet tattoos.

In 2011, a woman was piercing kittens and selling the felines online as "gothic."  A bill was filed soon after the incident.

The law gained attention after a Brooklyn tattoo artist uploaded a picture of his tattooed canine, saying he did the body art after his dog had surgery and it was still under anesthesia.

The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA said tattooing and piercing animals is painful for them and it is against existing laws banning animal cruelty in all 50 states.

Tagspet tattoo, pet piercings, animal rights, Andrew Cuomo, animal body art