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 (Feral and Nuisance) Animals Act 1994 (Vic) ("DFNA Act") sets out special rules for dog and cat owners. It introduced a number of new measures, including mandatory cat registration and incentives for the de-sexing of animals.

According to the DFNA Act, the "owner" of a dog or a cat includes a person who keeps or harbors the animal, or has the animal in their care for the time being, whether or not the animal is at large.

Section 24 of the DFNA Act provides that the owner of a dog is guilty of an offence if the dog is at large outside the owner's property, or not securely confined to the owner's premises. If the dog is at large during the day, a penalty of up to 3 penalty units may be imposed and this may be increased to 5 penalty units if the dog is at large at night ( one penalty unit is $116.82, as at May 2009).

Cats are dealt with differently. It is an offence to be the owner of a cat found at large in a municipal district. The presence of cats in specified areas can be prohibited. (S25 DFNA Act) Cat owners can be guilty of an offence and be liable to pay between 1 and 3 penalty units.

There are a number of prescribed offences which may be committed by owners, should their dogs be involved in any attack or "skirmish". The penalties for each vary depending on whether or not the dog was classified as a "dangerous dog" under the DFNA Act, or if there was any deliberate act on the part of the owner in either training or encouraging the dog to attack.

An owner of a dog is also guilty of an offence if their dog rushes at, attacks, bites, worries or chases any other person or animal. The penalty for this offence is up to 10 penalty units. However, the offence is not made out if the dog was reacting to teasing, abuse or assault of it or a person known to it, or if a person or another animal was trespassing on its premises.

If a dog bites you or rips your clothing, you should immediately report the attack to the local police or council. They can impound the dog or take the owner to court and have them fined. You are also entitled to claim from the owner your out-of-pocket expenses for damage caused by the dog. If a court convicts an owner of an offence under section 29 of the DFNA Act, the court can order the dog be destroyed.

The occupier of any premises where a dog or cat is kept is liable to a fine of 1 penalty unit if the animal creates a nuisance by either injuring or endangering the health of any person or persistently creating noise, by barking or otherwise, which unreasonably interferes with the peace, comfort or convenience of any person on any other premises.

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 notice 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”.