Live Stock Breeding Act, 1925

Minister may order slaughter or castration of certain bulls.

13.—(1) Where the Minister refuses an application for a licence under this Act or revokes or suspends a licence granted under this Act, or is of opinion that a bull to which this Act applies is not suitable for breeding purposes the Minister may serve on the owner, reputed owner, or other person keeping or having possession of the bull the subject of such application, licence, or opinion a notice in the prescribed form requiring such person within the time (not being less than seven days) specified in such notice to do such one of the following things as the Minister shall specify in the notice, that is to say:—

(a) to take out a permit under this Act in respect of the bull, or

(b) to have the bull slaughtered, or

(c) to have the bull castrated.

(2) In the event of a notice served under the foregoing sub-section not being complied with within the time limited therein, the Minister may cause the bull the subject of the notice to be slaughtered or to be castrated at the expense of the owner of the bull, and for that purpose any persons authorised in that behalf by the Minister may enter any premises in which the bull may be or may reasonably be believed to be and the cost of such slaughter or castration shall be paid by the owner of the bull to the Minister on demand and may be recovered by the Minister on demand from such owner as a civil debt.

(3) Any person who shall obstruct or impede the Minister or any person duly authorised by him in the exercise of any of the powers conferred by this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.

(4) The exercise by the Minister of the powers conferred on him by this section shall not relieve any person from any penalty which he may have incurred under any other section of this Act.

(5) Where the owner of a bull is not known, a notice under this section in relation to that bull may be addressed to “the owner of a bull” without naming him, and in any case a notice under this section may be served by delivering it to the person to whom it is addressed, or by delivering it to a person over sixteen years of age on the lands or premises on which the bull to which it relates is then kept, or by sending it by post to the person to whom it is addressed at his last known place of abode or the place at which the bull to which it relates was last known to be kept.