The Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 (Qld) states that any person in charge of an animal owes a duty of care to that animal.

A person is 'in charge' if they meet at least one of the following criteria:

• owns or has a lease, licence or other proprietary interest, in the animal
• has custody of the animal, including care or control of the animal
• employs or engages someone else who has custody of the animal, and that custody is within the scope of the employment or engagement.

If you are in charge of an animal, this usually means that either:

• you own the animal
• the animal is in your care or under your control (i.e you have custody of the animal).

Examples of people in charge of animals

Animals used for sport and recreation

Owners, horse riders, grooms, trainers, syndicate owners, and stable staff and animal transporters that are involved with horse and dog racing, show jumping, dressage, rodeos, camp drafts, horse and pony events and breed shows

Animals used in entertainment or exhibition

Owners, animal handlers, animal trainers, producers and animal care staff who are involved with circuses, zoos, animal nurseries, animals at children's parties, wildlife, safari and marine parks, films, television shows and expos

Animals used for scientific purposes

Teachers, postgraduate students, school principals, animal scientists, conservation and wildlife groups, environmental consultants, animal technicians and care staff who are involved with teaching, field trials, research, product testing, diagnosis, environmental studies and the production of biological products

Feral and pest animals

Pest controllers, professional hunters, recreational hunters, feral animal control operators and contractors when they are confining, housing or transporting these animals

Animals used for work

Owners, carers, trainers, operators and contractors who are involved with guard dogs, dogs used in hunting and shooting, cattle and sheep dogs, sniffer dogs, stockhorses, police horses and dogs, seeing and hearing dogs, rodent control cats and dogs

Animals used in education

Owners, teachers, instructors, students and animal care staff who are involved with universities, colleges and schools, classroom pets, riding schools, dog obedience and agility schools

Wildlife

Owners, animal carers, wildlife park operators and staff, and zookeepers who are involved in keeping, caring or exhibiting wildlife

Also consider...

• Read the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001.

The duty of care applies to all types of animals and animal uses. However, keeping livestock also involves special circumstances that make it especially important that everyone involved understand their duty of care.

The people who might be in charge of livestock and have a legal duty of care include:

• owners, including companies that own livestock
• managers
• property staff
• contractors
• transport drivers
• saleyard staff
• abattoir workers
• syndicate owners
• agistors
• agistees and lessees.

The duty of care obligation requires these people to provide for an animal's needs in regard to feed, water and living conditions, including protection from predators.

Livestock codes, standards and guidelines

National animal welfare standards, guidelines and model codes of practice cover several livestock species and transport and handling situations. These standards, guidelines and codes apply to commercial livestock, as well as peri-urban and hobby farm situations. They also apply to handling situations including saleyards and slaughtering establishments.

You may need to be familiar with several codes of practice to fully understand your responsibilities in managing, transporting and marketing your livestock. The Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 formally recognises model codes of practice as either voluntary codes or compulsory codes.

Although voluntary codes are not compulsory, you should refer to them if you are in charge of livestock to ensure that you meet your duty of care. If someone makes a complaint about the care of your livestock, animal welfare inspectors will use these codes to assess whether you are meeting your duty of care. They could issue you with a direction to improve the welfare of your animals.

In the case of livestock transport, many different people share a joint duty of care at various stages of the process. The livestock transport animal welfare codes outline the responsibilities of some of the parties involved.

Also consider...

• Learn more about animal welfare codes of practice.
• Read the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001.
• Learn about preventing and managing ingrown horns for livestock welfare.

More than one person can have duty of care to animals at the same time. Joint duty of care happens in many circumstances, such as when an animal is placed into the care of someone other than the owner.

Even if you take charge of an animal for a short time, you take on duty-of-care obligations. The person in charge of the animal and the animal's owner then have a joint duty of care to the animal.

You cannot be held responsible for events that occurred before you took charge of an animal. But you are responsible for your actions, or lack of actions, once you do take charge.

Each situation is different so it's not possible to rule who has more or less responsibility at any time. However, you must be aware of your duty of care responsibility and act in a reasonable way to care for any animal.

Joint duty-of-care situations

Sale and transport of livestock

During the sale and transport of livestock, the original owner, livestock agent, livestock agents' company, transport company, transport driver and purchaser all share a duty of care to ensure the animals' welfare before, during and following transport.

If animals go through a saleyard during the selling process, this shared legal responsibility extends to the saleyard agent and saleyard superintendent.

The extent of any individual's responsibility may vary according to the stage of the transport process and sale conditions.

Agistment

Where someone is agisting their animals on someone else's property, the owner of the animal (the agistor) and manager of the property where the animals are agisted (the agistee) both may be in charge of the agisted animals and therefore have a duty of care.

Company arrangements

In company arrangements, both the company and managers on the properties where its animals are kept are in charge, so both parties have a duty of care to the animals.

Animal ownership syndicates

In syndicate arrangements where various investors share the ownership of animals, such as racehorses and ostrich farms, the syndicate members and the person managing the animals may all have a duty of care.

Mortgage holders or receivers

If a mortgagor, receiver or other security holder over animals takes legal steps to enforce their mortgage or security, they immediately incur a duty of care to the animals, as does any third party employed to recover the animals.

Absentee owners

If people own a block of land and run a few cattle or horses on it they may not want to regularly care for the animals or may live too far away, so they make arrangements for someone else to care for the animals. In this case, both parties may have the legal duty of care.

If complaints about lack of proper care for the animals arise, it can be much easier and less costly to resolve the situation if there is a documented agreement, signed by both parties, which identifies who is responsible for the care and supervision of the animals.

Also consider...

• Read the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001.

Agistment is an arrangement that 2 parties enter into when an animal is taken and fed or pastured for payment.

When agisting an animal, both the animal owner and property owner may be a 'person in charge' and so have a duty of care to the animal.

Whether you are agisting an animal on someone else's property or providing agistment on your property, both parties must agree on and understand their responsibilities. If you fail to meet your duty of care, the animal could suffer and you could be charged with an offence.

As each situation is different, consider the environment and circumstances to determine reasonable arrangements for the animal's care. For example, an animal in a hot climate has different accommodation needs than one in a cold climate. Similarly, an aged animal may require closer health monitoring than a younger animal.

Both parties should establish a written agistment agreement that clearly states the agistment terms, and each person's roles and responsibilities. In particular, it should define who is responsible for providing food, water, veterinary treatment, husbandry (such as hoof trimming), animal checking and facilities maintenance.

A written agreement jointly benefits both the property owner and animal owner. It also reduces the likelihood of a dispute and protects the welfare of the animal.

Also consider...

• Read the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001.