Dealing with uninvited guests can be tricky. Surprise appearances by in-laws or old college friends can require a bit of social diplomacy. But when the interlopers wander over on four legs or fly in, diplomacy goes out the window.
Escaped livestock and poultry rarely respond to a polite request to go home.
Property owners may need to seek help from the farmer, but if the animal owner doesn’t solve the problem, there is recourse.The state can levy stiff fines against the critter’s owner under Maine’s animal trespass laws.
Livestock animals and poultry can be quite the escape artists. Holes in fences, gates carelessly left open or damaged enclosures can be exploited by a farm animal with wanderlust.
Simply going on a walk around the neighborhood is not necessarily a bad thing. It’s when animals find their way into gardens or fields in production that they cause trouble for a landowner.
Larger animals like cows, horses, sheep, pigs or goats can trample or uproot plants or make a meal of whatever is growing.
Pigs are prized for their ability to turn over soil as they root around for tasty grubs. But your neighbor will likely be less than thrilled if the turned up soil contains their prize flower garden.
Chickens, turkeys, geese and other poultry will happily feast on any new garden or lawn growth. They have no concept of property lines, and to a hungry farm fowl, one freshly seeded area looks every bit as tasty as another. It matters not if it’s part of their own barnyard or someone else’s property down the road.
Male escapees could breed with animals in other barnyards and destroy that farm’s breeding program. Any animal out wandering in the road can also cause motor vehicle crashes.
That’s why retired sheep farmer Richard Brzozowski kept a very close eye on his animals. He also gave them no reason to leave his farm.
“The person next door to our farm had a really big garden and we did not want the sheep in there,” Brzozowski said. “We also made sure our sheep had plenty of grass to eat.”
If you catch the critters in the act and know where they came from, contacting their owner to come get them is a good first response.
If you don’t know where the animals live, or if their owners don’t remove the animals within 12 hours, you can contact the municipal animal control officer or law enforcement officer. These are the people in Maine tasked with enforcing the state’s animal trespass laws.
It’s in the owners best interests to respond within that 12-hour window. If they don’t they can be charged with animal trespass and face fines ranging from $50 to $2,500, depending on how many times their animals have gotten loose.
These fines are a long way from the manner in which loose animals were handled in the 1800s. Back then, according to Brzozowski, any escaped animals would be caught and placed in the public town pound. These were large, round structures made of stone.
Several of these structures, long abandoned, survive across Maine.
“Eventually someone would tell the owner and he’d come get his cow or sheep or whatever,” Brzozowski said.
Today, owners are also responsible for covering any damage their livestock or poultry cause while on the lam.
“They are your animals, so it is your fault if they cause damage,” Brzozowski said.
In extreme cases under the law, repeat offenders may have their animals taken away from them.
In an apparent recognition of the futility of controlling them, cats are not subject to Maine animal trespass laws.