§ 4-13-16 Action for damages to animals
– Double damages on second recovery – Destruction of offending dog.
–
If any dog kills, wounds, worries, or assists in killing, wounding or worrying,
any sheep, lamb, cattle, horse, hog, swine, fowl, or other domestic animal
belonging to or in the possession of any person, or assaults, bites, or
otherwise injures any person while traveling the highway or out of the
enclosure of the owner or keeper of that dog, the owner or keeper of the dog
shall be liable to the person aggrieved, for all damage sustained, to be
recovered in a civil action, with costs of suit. If afterwards any such damage
is done by that dog, the owner or keeper of the dog shall pay to the party
aggrieved double the damage, to be recovered in the manner set forth and an
order shall be made by the court before whom that second recovery is made, for
killing the dog. The order shall be executed by the officer charged with the
execution of the order, and it shall not be necessary, in order to sustain this
action, to prove that the owner or keeper of the dog knew that the dog was
accustomed to causing this damage.
(G.L. 1896, ch. 111, § 3; G.L. 1909, ch. 135, § 3; G.L. 1923, ch.
136, § 3; G.L. 1938, ch. 639, § 3; G.L. 1956, §
4-13-16.)