Neighbour's Dog Killed Chickens

[Rob Roy]

What is the situation if a dog enters your garden and kills any of your chickens? Should it be reported to anyone and/or can you claim through the dog owner's insurance?

This has happened to someone I know of and they accepted 20 € from the man on the second occasion it happened, although the hen was worth more than that. Have they done the wrong thing by accepting a payment?

[HoneySuckleDreams]

Around here, money changing hands is normal (20€ seems a bit steep for a single hen though, unless it lays golden eggs!)

You can complain to the mayor if said dog is a regular chicken killer and the owner does nothing to stop it. We had one neighbour who's dog regularly escaped and killed chickens for fun, but there were enough complaints for it to be chained up all day. (It helped that it was the deputy mayor's dog so he had to do something really).

There is a big problem with unsupervised dogs running around the place. Technically they should be under control but no one really gives a stuff.

 

[Clair]

I'd have a word at the mairie, so they can take action. I would have done so at the first instance.

Wandering dogs (whether they belong to someone or not) are the maire's responsibility.

If the dog(s) attack poultry, they can attack a young child or a pet.

Also, the dog has damaged someone's property (chickens), so the owner of the chicken can -should- go to the gendarmerie and make a formal complaint.

[Rob Roy]

Thanks, you've said more or less what I thought. Apparently the man walks the dog without it being on a lead past the person's house. The first time it killed was a couple of months ago and the second one it killed the other day had young chicks it was rearing. It's also killed another neighbour's hens too - you'd think he'd keep it on a lead on its walk wouldn't you?

[ventodue]

From a legal perspective, the dog would be considered a "chien errant ou en état de divagation". 

Now, if your neighbour wants to 'Get Something Done', he needs to inform his Maire, who has a legal responsibility to ... 'Get Something Done' [:)] (under article L. 2212-2 du Code général des collectivités territoriales, apparently.  And it never hurts to be able to quote the article in such cases ... ). 

And if the Maire doesn't do something, then "La responsabilité de la commune peut être engagée ..." [:-))]

More here, the Association des Maires de France [:D]:

http://www.amf.asso.fr/document/index.asp?DOC_N_ID=8240&TYPE_ACTU

[nectarine]

I know someone who had breeding hens - quite a rare breed - and a neighbour's dog killed the chickens. His response was "it's just a chicken" and offered 5 euros, the price you'd pay for a live chicken in the market. But it didn't take account of the years this person had spent in maintaining this breed to get a particular colour and pedigree which, unfortunately, you can't put a price on.

[Patf]

This has happened to us more than once -  lost several chickens which were free ranging. Dog owner pays us out of their insurance. 20€ is far too much unless it's a very rare breed. Average 5 to 10€.

I think there's some responsibility on the owner of the chickens to keep them enclosed.