Australian Capital Territory Current Acts

ANIMAL WELFARE ACT 1992 - SECT 10

    (1)     A person commits an offence if the person—

        (a)     injures an animal; and

        (b)     does not take reasonable steps to assist with the animal's injury.

Examples

1     contacting a relevant person

2     seeking veterinary treatment

Maximum penalty: 100 penalty units, imprisonment for 1 year or both.

    (2)     A person commits an offence if—

        (a)     the person injures a mammal; and

        (b)     the person knows, or ought to know because of the circumstances, the animal is injured; and

        (c)     the person is not a person in charge of the animal; and

        (d)     the person fails to tell a relevant person, within 2 hours after the injury—

              (i)     that the animal is injured; and

              (ii)     the location where the animal was injured.

Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.

Example—circumstances

if a car hits a mammal—the size of the animal, witness accounts that the driver swerved or braked to avoid the animal or stopped after hitting the animal

    (3)     An offence against subsection (2) is a strict liability offence.

    (4)     In this section:

"Access Canberra" means the business unit known as Access Canberra.

Note     If the name of Access Canberra changes, the reference to Access Canberra is taken to be a reference to its new name (see Legislation Act

, s 183).

"relevant person" means—

        (a)     if a domestic animal was injured—a person in charge of the animal; or

        (b)     the authority; or

        (c)     an inspector; or

        (d)     Access Canberra.