New South Wales Consolidated Acts

IMPOUNDING ACT 1993 - SECT 11

11 Impounded animals to be delivered to pound

(1) An impounding officer must have an impounded animal delivered to a pound as soon as practicable after the animal is impounded.

(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 a livestock health and pest authority 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 authority. It must not be detained for longer than 7 days before it is impounded.

(3) The pound to which an impounded animal is to be delivered is the nearest convenient pound (if impounded by a police officer) or (if impounded by an impounding officer of an impounding authority) the nearest pound operated or used by that authority.

(3A) For the purposes of subsection (3), an impounding officer of an impounding authority that is a livestock health and pest authority delivers an impounded animal to the nearest pound operated or used by the authority if the authority 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 a livestock health and pest authority) 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 a livestock health and pest authority for a district may, with the permission of the Chairperson of the authority, instead destroy the animal without having it delivered to the pound if:

(a) in the opinion of a veterinarian employed under Chapter 1A of the Public Sector Employment and Management Act 2002 in the Government Service (for example a veterinarian who is a member of staff of a livestock health and pest authority), 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.