ANIMALS

Particularly in urban areas, the issue of adequate control of animals can often be a source of conflict between neighbours. The legal responsibility of owners for their animals depends on the type of animal owned and what is known about the animal.

Types of animals

The law regards some types of animals as naturally dangerous. If you own one of these types of animals (called animals ferae naturae ) and it hurts someone, you are totally responsible. It does not matter how careful you have been. So far only bears, zebras, elephants, dingoes, lions, tigers and chimpanzees are considered naturally dangerous.

The law regards all other animals as domestic animals mansuetae naturae. Owners will only be responsible for injuries caused by these animals if they were in some way negligent or if they knew that the animal had previously hurt someone, or was likely to hurt someone. (The law calls this the scienter knowledge rule.)

Owners should also be aware that councils regulate the number and the type of animals that may be kept on land. You should check with your local council to find out what its local laws are.

Dogs and cats

The Domestic Animals Act 1994 was amended by the Victorian Government. From 1 September 2010 a range of new laws come into effect including laws that affect owners of declared Menacing, Dangerous and Restricted Breed Dogs. The State Government Levy on Dog and Cat registrations has also been increased.

If a dog is found wandering in public and is unregistered or unidentifiable, and an Authorised Council Officer believes that dog is a danger to the public (eg has attacked or is likely to attack), the dog can be impounded. If unclaimed by the owner within 48 hours, the dog can be euthanased.

If a dog that has previously been declared as a Dangerous Dog (due to attack),is found wandering at large, it can be impounded, and euthanased after 24 hours. Owners must contact the council within 24 hours of impoundment if they allege there were mitigating circumstances.. If a dog is behaving in a way that an Authorised Officer believes it will cause imminent serious injury or death to a person or other animal, the Officer can immediately destroy that dog.

There have been significant increases in the penalties for an owner who:

does not register a dog or cat that is over three months old – 20 penalty units
allows a dog or cat to leave their premises without its registration identification – two penalty units
lets their dog out during the day – six penalty units
lets their dog out at night – ten penalty units
appears to be in control of an animal that attacks or bites a person or an animal and causes serious injury or death – 40 penalty units. Penalties are higher if a dangerous, menacing or restricted breed dog attacks in this way.

From 1 July 2010, 1 pu equals $119.45, as published in the Victoria Government Gazette G10, 11 March 2010.

As well as ordering an owner to pay fines, the court may also order an owner to pay the council's costs. The magistrate may order that the dog be destroyed. The court may also order the owner to attend a course about pet ownership and obedience, or dog behaviour training.

For further information on the new laws visit: www.dpi.vic.gov.au/animalwelfareor call 136 186. Advice is also available from your local council, animal welfare shelters, vets and pet clubs.

Menacing and dangerous dogs

Section 34 of the DFNA Act empowers a council to declare a dog to be dangerous in circumstances where, for example, the dog has attacked or injured a person or another animal, or been trained to do so. The council can also declare a dog to be a "menacing dog", under section 41A if it has had to issue two or more infringement notices upon the owner because the dog has rushed at or chased a person.

If a dog which has been classified as "dangerous" attacks, rushes at, or menaces another person or animal, then the owner of the dog may be guilty of an offence and subject to fines of up to 120 penalty units or six months imprisonment.

The "parking ticket" procedure applies to most offences under the DFNA Act. The notice is issued by a council officer and specifies details of the dog or cat, the offence and the penalty.( For more information, see: Chapter 4*4 Infringements and Fines).

Animal trespass

If your animals stray onto your neighbour's land, it is likely that you will be responsible for any damage that they cause. It does not matter that you were not negligent or didn't know what was happening. See the Law Handbook chapter 10.2 for more information.

People who own animals (including dogs) are under a duty to take reasonable care to see that their animals do not cause any damage by straying onto a highway. If reasonable care is not taken and damage results, the owner is liable to pay compensation.

See Chapter 10.2 the Law Handbook for more information about “Animals”.

Contacts & Further Information

For more information refer to The Law Handbook Chapter 10.2 Animals

Reaching Agreement

For hints on the best ways to manage a neighbourhood dispute refer to Reaching Agreement. This is a video based website produced by the Dispute Settlement Centre Victoria.Go to http://www.disputes.vic.gov.au/reachingagreement/

The Dispute Settlement Centre Victoria (DSCV)

The DSCV is a free service and can help with negotiating and resolving neighbourhood disputes. The DSCV also offers multilingual services in many community languages.

Level 4, 456 Lonsdale Street

Melbourne, Vic 3000

Tel: 9603 8370 or 1800 658 528

Web: www.disputes.vic.gov.au/dscv/

Contact your local community legal centre

Community legal centres can provide legal information or advice on neighbourhood disputes. Legal services vary between centres so contact your local centre to find out how they can help.You may find your local community legal centre using the directory in Law4community or refer to The Law Handbook Advice Directory