UNLICENSED AND DANGEROUS ANIMALS. 147 



In Morris v. Nugent^** it was decided that to justify shooting 

 a dog it was not sufficient to show that the dog was of a fero- 

 cious disposition and at large. To justify shooting him he 

 must be actually attacking the party at the time; therefore, 

 where in that case the dog ran out and bit the defendant 

 and ran away it was held the defendant was not justified 

 in shooting him as he ran away. It need scarcely be said, 

 however, that a dog is not one of those animals that the 

 owner keeps at his peril, until after knowledge of savageness 

 of disposition. But how would it have been had the animal 

 been a monkey, or a wolf escaped from its owner? After es- 

 cape, does the owner retain a sufficient property to entitle him 

 to maintain an action for loss if the animal is shot without 

 having done any mischief? This seems to be the true test, 

 rather than the dangerousness of the animal's nature. The 

 action would be to recover damages for injury to property 

 and then the case would turn upon whether the animal was 

 ferce naturce in the sense of being a subject of property, and 

 the escape would be material because without possession 

 there could be no property in an animal feres naturce in this 

 sense. It might be very hard upon the owner of a travelling 

 circus, for instance, if a valuable lion escaped and was shot 

 while trying merely to get out of the way of the party shoot- 

 ing it. But it appears to us that, however morally wrong it 

 might be, in law a man may shoot an escaped lion in England 

 with impunity and, moreover, become thereby the owner of 

 the skin. The trophy might be very discreditable, notwith- 

 standing the rarity of the feat." ^'*'* 



47. Accidental Injuries to Animals Trespassing or Kunning at 

 large — The question of liability for accidental injuries to tres- 

 passing animals depends on various considerations, such as 

 on whom rests the obligation to fence, whether the injury was 



"" 7 C. & P. 572, cited in § 43, supra. 



"° 54 J- P. 4S2, quoted in 24 Ir. L. T. 468. 



