The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Carey boy on December 28, 2014, 12:32:32 pm
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If I put rat poison down on my land in bait boxes, and a sheep (or any animal) jumps over my fence on to my land and eats it.
Who is at fault?.
Many thanks
David
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The person who is charge of the animal
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The person who puts the bait down has a duty of care to ensure that its out of harms way from any other species which may be affected by it.
See http://www.thinkwildlife.org/crru-code/ (http://www.thinkwildlife.org/crru-code/) for more info.
Remember, if you find dead rodents due to the poisoning, you need to dispose of them so that other animals don't feed on them and get secondary poisoning e.g. birds of prey, cats etc.
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OP states he used bait boxes so would imagine duty of care had been satisfied? Send the sheep owner a bill for the poison (!) How did said sheepies get to said poison?
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Hi,
My fields are keep well, full of good grass. My neighbour keeps far to many sheep so they have no grass to eat. Sheep have broken open the bait boxes. The bait boxes are there to kill the rat coming his S---- hole of a barn.
Dave
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I believe you will be prosecuted if you put bait in an outdoor area when it is supposed to be kept indoors. If boxes are being broken then you will be responsible for placing them in areas or under something to stop this happening. I know someone who was called to another farm building by the police, left the shed open where he had poison and then they prosecuted him!
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......If boxes are being broken then you will be responsible for placing them in areas or under something to stop this happening......
I agree with ScotsGirl.
Having the bait box is one thing but you have to ensure that it is safe and nothing else can get into it whether it is inside a shed or in the open air. Most farms up here have their rodent control carried out by a company and they usually place a very large stone/breeze block on top of the box.
Don't get me wrong, the owner of the sheep has a duty of responsibility to ensure that his stock are kept in a well fenced area too.
If the other farm has a large population of rats and they aren't doing anything about controlling them, then perhaps a call to the local environmental dept may be an option.
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Hi,
Thank you all for your Help. Will re think.
Many thanks
David.
Could run the neighbour over. LOL
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Better surely to have a chat with him and sort it out amicably.