First Principles of Business Law

9. Liability for animals

9.1. Circumstances in which harm caused by animals gives rise to liability

Read the example below, and then answer the questions.

A, a farmer in Victoria, keeps cows, horses and a couple of dogs. By day her cows are kept in a fenced field and the horses in a fenced paddock. The dogs are allowed to roam free on the farm. Although A makes every effort to keep her fences mended, the cows occasionally break out and on two occasions they have trampled and eaten crops on B's farm. When B comes to complain, one of A's dogs attacks and bites him.

1. Although A was careful to keep her fences mended, is she liable in tort for the damage her cows have done to B's crops?

2. If A's horses escape and harm another person or their property, would A be liable under the same principles that apply to her cows?

3. A says that her dogs have never attacked or bitten anybody before. Will she nevertheless be held liable for the attack on B by her dog?

4. Is a person liable if they capture and keep an animal that is normally considered to be wild, and it causes damage?