CIV § 3341

Kill dog or animal attacking livestock: CIV § 3341

Owners are liable for damages if a dog or other animal kills or harms livestock or poultry. Anyone may kill a dog or animal found attacking them.

Official text CIV § 3341 — California

The owner, possessor, or harborer of any dog or other animal, that shall, on the premises of any person other than the owner, possessor, or harborer of such dog or other animal, kill, worry, or wound any bovine animal, swine, horse, mule, burro, sheep, angora goat, or cashmere goat, or poultry, shall be liable to the owner of the same for the damages and costs of suit, to be recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction:

1. In the prosecution of actions under the provisions of this chapter, it shall not be necessary for the plaintiff to show that the owner, possessor, or harborer of such dog or other animal, had knowledge of the fact that such dog or other animal would kill, wound or worry bovine animals, swine, horses, mules, burros, sheep, goats, or poultry.

2. Any person on finding any dog or dogs, or other animal, not on the premises of the owner or possessor of such dog or dogs, or other animal, worrying, wounding, or killing any bovine animals, swine, horses, mules, burros, sheep, angora or cashmere goats, may, at the time of finding such dog or dogs, or other animal, kill the same, and the owner or owners thereof shall sustain no action for damages against any person so killing such dog or dogs, or other animal. Nothing in this section shall render an owner, possessor, or harborer of a dog liable for the accidental or unavoidable killing or injury of any bovine animal, swine, horse, mule, burro, sheep, angora goat, cashmere goat, or poultry which occurs in connection with or as a incident to the driving or herding the same from the premises of the owner, possessor, or harborer of the dog, whether such killing or injury occurs upon such premises or off of such premises.

Text as published in the 2026 snapshot of the code.

Source: Vaquill Open US Law, compiled from official state publishers (huggingface.co), reproduced under license CC BY 4.0.

Read this provision at the official source →

What it actually says

Section 3341 is the livestock counterpart to the dog-bite rule, and it is far older in feel. The owner, possessor or harborer of any dog or other animal that, on the premises of someone other than the owner, possessor or harborer, kills, worries or wounds any bovine animal, swine, horse, mule, burro, sheep, angora or cashmere goat, or poultry, is liable to the owner of the animals for the damages and the costs of suit. The list is closed and the location matters: the harm must occur on someone else's premises.

Paragraph 1 removes the knowledge element that would otherwise apply. It is not necessary for the plaintiff to show that the owner, possessor or harborer knew the animal would kill, wound or worry livestock. As with § 3342 for bites, the owner does not get the benefit of the animal's clean record. "Worry" is doing real work in the section — chasing and harrying a flock, with the losses that follow, is within it even where nothing is killed.

Paragraph 2 contains the provision that surprises people: a person who finds a dog or other animal off the premises of its owner or possessor actually worrying, wounding or killing the listed livestock may kill it at the time of finding, and the owner has no action for damages against the person who did so. The same paragraph then protects the dog owner from liability for accidental or unavoidable killing or injury occurring in connection with driving or herding the animals from the premises of the dog's owner, possessor or harborer, whether that happens on those premises or off them. The section covers "any dog or other animal", so it is not confined to dogs. Whether a particular loss falls within it, and how it is valued, are matters for a lawyer with the facts.

When it applies

A loose dog gets into a chicken run and kills the birds
Sheep chased by a dog and lost or injured in the panic
A neighbour's dog repeatedly entering a paddock with horses
Poultry killed by a dog whose owner says it had never done it before
A smallholder wanting to know the position if a dog is caught in the act
Livestock injured while being driven off the dog owner's own land

What this section does not say

It does not cover pets. The list is bovine animals, swine, horses, mules, burros, sheep, angora and cashmere goats, and poultry — a dog that kills another dog or a cat is not within this section, though § 3340 may apply.
It does not apply on the animal owner's own premises. The harm must occur on the premises of a person other than the owner, possessor or harborer of the offending animal.
It does not authorise killing a dog you find loose. Paragraph 2 permits it only where the animal is found actually worrying, wounding or killing the listed livestock, at the time of finding.
It does not cover bites to people. Injury to a human being is § 3342.
It is not limited to dogs, despite how it is usually described. The section reads "any dog or other animal".

Worked examples

Invented situations, written to show how the wording bites. They are not real cases, not judgments and not precedent, and nothing here predicts what would happen in yours.

Illustrative example

A neighbour's dog gets under a fence into a smallholding's chicken run and kills several hens. The owner says the dog has never done anything like it before.

How the wording applies

Section 3341 imposes liability for livestock and poultry killed or injured on the premises of someone other than the animal's owner, without any need to prove the owner knew of a propensity. The point about the dog never having done it before, which would matter under a knowledge-based rule, does not answer this section. What does matter is whose premises it happened on.

How the parties settled it

The dog's owner pays the replacement value of the birds and half the cost of an improved fence, and keeps the dog on a lead near the boundary.

Illustrative example

Sheep are chased across a field by a loose dog and two are injured in the panic, one badly enough that it has to be put down. The dog's owner says the dog never touched them.

How the wording applies

The section covers worrying as well as wounding and killing, so contact is not required. It turns on the loss being traceable to the worrying, meaning injuries sustained in the flight and the losses that follow from them, rather than a condition the animals already had.

How the parties settled it

The dog's owner pays the veterinary costs and the market value of the animal lost, and both agree the dog will be kept on a lead on the track past the field.

Related sections

CIV § 3342 Dog Owners Liable Regardless of Past Bites: CIV § 3342 CIV § 3340 California Civil Code § 3340 - Exemplary damages for wrongful injury to an animal CIV § 3333 Full Compensation for All Detriment Caused | CIV § 3333

That's the law. Now let's settle your problem.

Say what is happening. A neutral mediator hears your side and the other party's, and walks you both to a written agreement. In the advanced settings you can ask for the decision to be reasoned on the California Codes.

This is with

Or open a session directly and invite the other party.

We copy this text from the official publisher and re-check it against that source on every page load, but we cannot guarantee it is complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for any reliance on it. An amendment can take effect before a consolidation catches up. The publisher's own copy is linked below; where the two differ, it is the official one that counts.

This page reproduces the text of CIV § 3341 in force at the date shown and explains it in general terms. It is not legal advice and takes no account of the circumstances of your case, which can change the answer completely. For a live dispute, for limitation periods, and before taking any step in court, consult a qualified lawyer in California.

← All California law pages