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You may have been involved in an accident where animals stray onto the highway, had an accident at a riding stables or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time at say a circus or a zoo. All such claims are governed by a piece of Legislation called The Animals Act 1971,
This piece of Legislation is broadly devided between
- dangerous animals and;
- non dangerous animals
Veitch Penny's claims team will be happy to offer specialist help and advice to guide you through this complex area of law.
If you are interested a taste of the courts' approach can be found in the following links
Do remember that the Animals Act provides a defence if the damage is due wholly to the fault of that person suffering it and they voluntarily accepted the risk of that injury. Animals can be dangerous.
Let's consider an example. An inmate escapes from prison and finds shelter in a farms outbuilding. The Police enter the farm with Police dogs. The prisoner is warned that if he does not come out after the count of 5, the dogs will be let loose. The prisoner does not come out within the given time, the dogs are then let off and he is bitten.
This prisoner can make no claim for Injury as it was his fault and as he voluntarily accepted the consequences.
Let us look at an example of the Animals Act being used when livestock stray onto the road at night time.
One day Mrs N was driving on the road at about 8.30pm in November. It was dark and raining. She was driving close to a farm and unbeknown to her, horses were kept on that farm which were being moved from one stable to another. Whilst the horses were being moved, one of them was spooked by a loud noise causing it to become agitated. It broke free and ran down the drive of the farm onto the road. Mrs N was driving down the road when she saw a horse bolting towards her. She could not avoid an accident. The horse collided with the car causing severe damage to the car and injury to Mrs N.
Mrs N wished to pursue a compensation claim. For her claim to succeed three facts must be proved.
- The damage is of a kind which the animal, unless restrained, was likely to cause or which, if caused by the animal, was likely to be severe.
- The incident arose from a characteristic of the animal (or of it's species) and which was known to the keeper.
- The keeper should reasonably have contemplated the animals reaction and taken measures to protect against harm
Mrs N's claim against the owner of the farm was successful.
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