Animals Act, 1985

Duty to take care to prevent damage by animals straying on to public road.

2.—(1) So much of the rules of the common law relating to liability for negligence as excludes or restricts the duty which a person might owe to others to take such care as is reasonable to see that damage is not caused by an animal straying on to a public road is hereby abolished.

(2) (a) Where damage is caused by an animal straying from unfenced land on to a public road, a person who placed the animal on the land shall not be regarded as having committed a breach of the duty to take care by reason only of placing it there if—

(i) the land is situated in an area where fencing is not customary, and

(ii) he had a right to place the animal on that land.

(b) In this subsection “fencing” includes the construction of any obstacle designed to prevent animals from straying, and “unfenced” shall be construed accordingly.