(2) An
impounding officer of a council may detain an animal liable to be impounded
without impounding it. The detained animal may be placed on any land on
agistment or on any land owned by or under the control of the council. It must
not be detained for longer than 7 days before being impounded.
(2A) An
impounding officer of Local Land Services may detain an animal liable to be
impounded without impounding it. The detained animal may be placed on any land
on agistment or on any land owned by or under the control of Local Land
Services. It must not be detained for longer than 7 days before it is
impounded.
(3A) For the purposes of subsection
(3), an impounding officer of an impounding authority that is Local Land
Services delivers an impoundedanimal to the nearest pound operated or used by
Local Land Services if Local Land Services has established a private pound at
some place on the land where the animal was impounded and the animal is
detained in that pound.
(4) The impounding officer (other than an
impounding officer of Local Land Services) may instead destroy the animal
immediately (without having it delivered to a pound) if of the opinion that--
(a) the animal is seriously injured, diseased or starved or is otherwise in a
distressed state, or
(b) the animal is worth less than the cost of delivering
it to the pound.
(4A) An impounding officer of Local Land Services may, with
the permission of Local Land Services, instead destroy the animal without
having it delivered to the pound if--
(a) in the opinion of a veterinarian
employed in the Public Service (for example a veterinarian who is a member of
staff of Local Land Services), the animal is seriously injured, diseased or
starved or is otherwise in a distressed state, or
(b) the animal is worth
less than the cost of delivering it to the pound.
(5) The
impounding authority may recover as a debt from the owner of an animal the
cost of destroying the animal and disposing of its carcass.