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through no fault of his. The farmer has a right to drive off his 

 premises any animals which he finds trespassing thereon. He 

 may drive them into the highway and so far along the highway as 

 necessary to keep them off his land, unless they came upon his 

 land through a defective fence which it was his duty to keep in 

 repair, in which case he had better drive them back upon their 

 owner's land and fix up the fence to meet the requirements of the 

 law. Should he prefer, he may take such trespassing animals to 

 the town pound or other suitable place, giving them sufficient 

 food and water and notifying their owner of his doings, and why 

 they have been impounded, and stating the amount of his dam- 

 ages, and of his charges for feeding them ; and then, if the 

 owner of the animals does not claim them and pay the damages 

 and charges, they may be sold by public auction and the proceeds 

 of the sale applied to the payment of the damages and charges. 

 But the farmer has no right to kill or injure animals which he finds 

 doing damage upon his land, unless they are in pursuit of his own 

 animals, and there is a reasonable ground to apprehend that they 

 will attack and injure them, in which case he has the right to kill 

 the attacking animals, if necessary, to protect his own. It used 

 to be supposed, and some people still labor under the impression, 

 that a person has the right to kill fowls, cats, dogs, hogs and 

 such animals, when found trespassing on his premises, provided 

 he tosses the dead carcasses over the fence upon their owner's 

 land ; but the law does not justify any such proceeding, even if 

 notice of an intention to kill is given to the owner of the animals 

 prior to their trespasses. A person annoyed by trespassing ani- 

 mals may seek redress in damages of their owner or by a criminal 

 complaint against him; but if he wilfully or maliciously kills, 

 wounds, maims or poisons any domestic animal, or exposes any 

 poisonous substances with intent that the life of any such animal 

 shall be destroyed thereby, he is liable to imprisonment in the 

 state prison for ten years or a fine of five thousand dollars. 



When the owner or occupant of land finds himself annoyed 

 beyond endurance by the trespass of his neighbors' animals, the 

 proper and reasonable thing for him to do is to post up a notice 

 on his land, or what is better, notify the owner of the animals in 

 writing, that he forbids the further trespassing of his animals upon 

 his land, and then such owner is liable to a fine of ten dollars for 

 each subsequent trespass of his animals. A farmer has a right to 

 guard and protect his premises against thieves and trespassers by 

 the reasonable use of watch-dogs, especially in the night-time, but 

 he has no right to keep a ferocious dog on his premises unless he 

 is kept chained, and even then his owner would be held liable if he 



