Queensland Consolidated Acts

ANIMAL CARE AND PROTECTION ACT 2001 - SECT 17

17 Breach of duty of care prohibited

(1) A person in charge of an animal owes a duty of care to it.

(2) The person must not breach the duty of care.

Penalty—

Maximum penalty—

(a) if the breach causes death, serious deformity, serious disability or prolonged suffering of an animal—2,000 penalty units or 3 years imprisonment; or

(b) otherwise—300 penalty units or 1 year’s imprisonment.

Note—

See also section 9 .

(3) For subsection (2) , a person breaches the duty only if the person does not take reasonable steps to—

(a) provide the animal’s needs for the following in a way that is appropriate—

(i) food and water;

(ii) accommodation or living conditions for the animal;

(iii) to display normal patterns of behaviour;

(iv) the treatment of disease or injury; or

(b) ensure any handling of the animal, including any confinement or transportation of the animal, by the person, or caused by the person, is appropriate.

(4) In deciding what is appropriate, regard must be had to—

(a) the species, environment and circumstances of the animal; and

(b) the steps a reasonable person in the circumstances of the person would reasonably be expected to have taken.

Examples of things that may be a circumstance for subsection (4)(b)—

• a bushfire or another natural disaster

• a flood or another climatic condition