hier<\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe killing of such a dog is dependent on factors such as the behaviour of the dog and the reasonable means available to deal with the dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stray dogs which have had very little contact with human interaction or which have previously been abused are likely to become aggressive when they are confronted by human beings. They might feel insecure and scared for the safety of their litter or their food. Where a stray dog becomes aggressive toward you or another person or your property and as a result you kill the dog in protection thereof, the defence of necessity can be used to escape liability for animal cruelty. If you encounter a dog (whether it is stray or not) on public property or your own private property and it threatens your life; another\u2019s life or your property, you can destroy the dog and rely on the defence of necessity to a charge of animal cruelty or malicious injury to property. The same defence(s) will be raised in the event of a possible civil claim by the owner against you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What would the legal position be if you kill a dog on your property or on public property, assuming<\/em><\/strong> it is a stray animal, in the protection of one\u2019s life, family and property <\/em><\/strong>and it is later it is determined later that the dog had an owner?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe owner of the dog can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Lay a charge of malicious damage to property or animal cruelty; and \/ or<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Institute a civil claim for financial damages<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
The crime of malicious injury to property requires that the prosecution prove that it was indeed you that shot the dog; that it was unlawful; that you had the intention to harm someone else\u2019s property irrespective of your knowledge of the owner of the property and that this intention was based on malice. The State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you acted both intentionally and with malice in killing the dog. In this instance, however, you acted to protect your own or someone else\u2019s life or even the life of your own dog and the requisite intention required by the said Animal Protection Act or for malicious injury to property is absent and as such this cannot be shown to include malice, only necessity. As such you did not act unlawfully provided you did not cause the dog unnecessary suffering in its killing or tortured the dog until it died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A dog that appears to be stray or feral (a dog that is not under the possession, charge, control or custody of another person) cannot be considered the property of a person and as such can be destroyed provided that you were not aware that the dog was indeed owned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same defence(s) mentioned above can be raised in the event of a possible civil claim by the owner against you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alternatively, where a stray dog is not a threat to yourself, another or property, do not destroy it. Contact your municipality or closest police station for assistance to impound the dog. Or if you can entrap the dog you can transport it to the local SPCA.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nFirearms Guardian is \u2018n korttermyn versekeringsproduk, geadministreer deur Firearms Guardian (Pty) Ltd, \u2018n gemagtigde FDV (FSP47115) en onderskryf deur GENRIC Insurance Company Limited (GENRIC), (FSP 43638), \u2018n gemagtigde FDV en gelisensi\u00ebrde nie-lewens Versekeraar.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is not an exceptional circumstance to encounter an aggressive stray dog in a public place or on one\u2019s own property. If you encounter a dog on public property or your own private property and it threatens your life, another\u2019s life or your property, can you use your firearm (or any other means) to destroy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-firearms","category-self-defence"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7224"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7232,"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7224\/revisions\/7232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmsguardian.co.za\/af\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}