Every so often stories appear in the press about injury caused by farm animals, for example, bolting horses, bulls, or cattle with calves attacking ramblers or dog walkers. The question that follows is whether the keeper of the animal is liable for the injury?

Liability is governed by the Animals Act 1971 and the law of negligence.  Section 2 (2) of the Act applies to farm animals and pets.  For liability to be established:

(a) the damage is of a kind likely to be caused unless the animal is restrained or likely  to be severe if caused by the animal and

(b) the likelihood of damage is due to characteristics not normally found in the species  or not normally found except at particular times or in particular circumstances and

(c)  those characteristics are known to the keeper/owner

Below are some examples of ‘abnormal characteristics’ for the species:

In Kite v Napp the claimant was bitten by a dog who was known to attack people carrying bags.  This was found to be a characteristic that is not normally found in dogs.

In the case of Wallace v Newton, a groom was crushed by a horse as it was being led into a horse box.  The owners knew the horse was unpredictable and unreliable and these characteristics were found to have caused the accident.  The judge said that such characteristics were not normally found in animals of the same species.

In the case of Mirvahedy v Henley, the claimant suffered injuries when his car was struck by the defendant’s horse.  The horse, and two others, bolted out of their field, pushing over their electric fence and surrounding wooden fence, before running into a road. In the lower courts the claim failed but on appeal under the Animals Act it was allowed.  The court decided that the tendency of a horse to bolt was a characteristic not normally found, except in particular times and circumstances when horses were sufficiently alarmed and panicked.  

The Mirvahedy case has led to almost strict liability and, it is believed, an increase in insurance premiums. Unsurprisingly there has been lobbying by the Country Land Business Association and the British Horse Society as well as DEFRA for amendments to The Animals Act.