The Importance Of Proper Pet Care And Safety
Brian O Sutter
Personal Injury
For a lot of people out there, getting a pet is like adding a new member to your family. Whether it’s something traditional like a cat or a dog, something small like a fish or a spider, or something exotic like a parrot or a lizard, we form attachments to the creatures in our lives just as surely as we form attachments to the people we love.However, it’s important to remember that, at the end of the day, pets are not humans. They don’t have the same intelligence and ability to communicate, they don’t have the same sense of social awareness and responsibility, and they don’t have the same rights under the law as a person does. If an animal harms a human, then it’s almost always the human who is going to win.
Dog Bite Laws
Florida has very strict laws when it comes to an owner’s responsibility for an animal attack. These laws are usually referred to as dog bite laws, but it’s worth pointing out that they don’t apply exclusively to dogs – it’s just that dogs are a very common pet and many breeds have enough strength and aggression to seriously hurt someone. If a pet snake or piranha were to bite someone hard enough to need medical attention, the dog bite laws would still apply.
Under Florida statutes, the pet owner is almost always responsible, and there are very few mitigating factors. It doesn’t matter whether or not the animal has a history of aggression or whether it’s on a leash, and a property owner might even be responsible for a stray dog if the animal is consistently present and the owner is in a position to limit the dog’s actions.
The one main exception is the “beware of dog” sign: if the owner is using a dog to guard his or her property and the person attacked is on the owner’s land unlawfully, then the owner is almost certainly in the clear. Also, if a pet is under the care of a trainer or a veterinarian, then responsibility shifts to that person for the duration.
Taking Care Of Your Pets
With these civil statutes in mind, it becomes plain that while part of the responsibility of a pet owner is to feed your pet and ensure that it comes to no harm, you’re also responsible for making sure that no one comes to harm because of your pet.
With some kinds of animal, like lizards, insects, and fish, the situation is simple. All you have to do is let the pet spend its days in its aquarium or terrarium and only let it out on very rare and well-supervised occasions. Other pets, like rabbits, rodents, and birds, spend most of their time in cages but enjoy spreading their legs (or wings) on occasion, but for the most part they’re harmless so long as you don’t lose complete track of them.
The most potentially troublesome pets are the ones who can roam freely through your living space: cats and dogs. Again, dogs are singled out because they have the size and the opportunity to be dangerous, but a pet owner is responsible for all his or her pets regardless of their species. This means keeping each pet where it belongs, whether that’s in a cage or simply inside the house, and it means keeping your dog on a leash and training it to avoid aggressive behavior if that’s a problem.
If you happen to find yourself on the receiving end of an improperly trained and restrained pet, then you are very likely entitled to compensation for your injury and for emotional distress. In such a case, make sure you identify the animal and prevent it from fleeing, because if there’s even a possibility that you’ve been infected with rabies then there’s a long series of shots in your near future. Also, take a picture of the wound and contact a personal injury lawyer as soon as you can.
If you happen to live or work near Port Charlotte or Sarasota in southwest Florida, then All Injuries Law Firm is completely willing and able to help. We will do all that we can to make sure you get the compensation which you deserve.