Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

That we not place a blemish upon consecrated animals: That we not place a blemish upon consecrated animals; meaning to say that we not make upon a beast consecrated for the altar any wound or any fracture that disqualifies it as an offering — as it is stated (Leviticus 22:21), “and no blemish shall be upon it.” And they, may their memory be blessed, said (Menachot 56b), “Read it as ‘shall not be made in it.’” And the language of Sifra, Emor, Section 7:9 is, “‘No blemish shall be upon it’ — do not place a blemish upon it.”

It is from the roots of the commandment [that it is] since there would be a disgrace to the consecrated animals with this. And I have already written many times (Sefer HaChinukh 95) [about] the benefit to the heart of man that comes out [from] the endearment of the glory of the Temple, its servants and its offerings.

From the laws of the commandment is that which they said that one who puts a blemish in consecrated animals themselves or their exchanges transgresses a negative commandment and is lashed, except for the firstborn or the tithe. As one who puts a blemish on their exchange is not lashed, because they are not fitting as sacrifices — as is elucidated in Temurah 21b. And the rest of its details are elucidated in scattered places in Zevachim and Temurah.

And this prohibition is practiced in every place and at all times by males and females. But there is only a liability for lashes at the time that the Temple is in existence; such that the beast would be fitting as a sacrifice, as is elucidated in the Gemara, Avodah Zarah 13b.