Buy / Sell Business, Latvia, Legal Counsel, Legislation

Answer: Law strictly says that it is prohibited to kill an animal (Section 44 of the Animal Protection law) but there are some exceptions. The prohibition does not apply to:

1) animals kept for farming purposes;

2) animal euthanasia;

3) sports hunting;

4) fishing;

5) destruction of harmful rodents and insects;

6) cases when an animal attacking a human being threatens his or her health or life;

7) cases when a programme combating infectious diseases or invasive species provides for the killing of an animal; and

8) killing of experimental animals used, if it is provided for in the objective of the experiment.

Therefore, if there is a threat to human health or life killing of the attacking dog shall be considered a justifiable action. Besides, it is possible to turn to the Food and Veterinary Service with a request to declare the dog as dangerous and to perform euthanasia on that dog. Pursuant to the Cabinet Regulation No. 109 of 7^th February 2006 On Criteria and Order of How the Dog is Declared as Dangerous and on Further Actions in This Regard, As Well on Requirements of Keeping a Dangerous Dog, the dog can be declared as dangerous in the following cases:

- as a result of the dog’s attack a person has sustained a serious or light bodily injury or his/her life has been taken;

- the dog has attacked another animal and the attack was initiated by the dog or the other animal has been killed as a result;

- the dog is aggressive and endangers other people and animals.

However, there are certain exceptions. The dog shall not be declared as dangerous if the following circumstances have been acknowledged:

- the victim has trespassed on private property;

- the victim has been teasing, torturing or in other way mistreating the dog or has attacked it;

- the victim by his own actions has endangered life, health and property of the person accompanied by the dog;

- the working dog was on job assignment.

In any case, the final decision shall be made by the special commission established by the Food and Veterinary Service. In the event your actions will be recognized as unjustifiable you can face both administrative and criminal liability for killing an animal.  

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