2015 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 14 - Criminal Law
RS 14:39 - Negligent injuring

§39. Negligent injuring

A. Negligent injuring is either of the following:

(1) The inflicting of any injury upon the person of another by criminal negligence.

(2) The inflicting of any injury upon the person of another by a dog or other animal when the owner of the dog or other animal is reckless and criminally negligent in confining or restraining the dog or other animal.

B. The violation of a statute or ordinance shall be considered only as presumptive evidence of such negligence.

C. Whoever commits the crime of negligent injuring shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars, or imprisoned for not more than six months, or both.

D. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to:

(1) Any dog which is owned, or the service of which is employed, by any state or local law enforcement agency for the principal purpose of aiding in the detection of criminal activity, enforcement of laws, or apprehension of offenders.

(2) Any dog trained in accordance with the standards of a national or regional search and rescue association to respond to instructions from its handler in the search and rescue of lost or missing individuals and which dog, together with its handler, is prepared to render search and rescue services at the request of law enforcement.

(3) Any guide or service dog trained at a qualified dog guide or service school who is accompanying any blind person, visually impaired person, deaf person, hearing impaired person, or person with any other physical disability who is using the dog as a guide or for service.

(4) Any attack made by a dog lawfully inside a dwelling, a place of business, or a motor vehicle as defined in R.S. 32:1(40), against a person who is attempting to make an unlawful entry into the dwelling, place of business, or motor vehicle, or who has made an unlawful entry into the dwelling, place of business, or motor vehicle and the dog is protecting that property.

(5) Any attack made by livestock as defined in this Section.

E. For the purposes of this Section:

(1) "Harboring or keeping" means feeding, sheltering, or having custody over the animal for three or more consecutive days.

(2) "Livestock" means any animal except dogs and cats, bred, kept, maintained, raised, or used for profit, that is used in agriculture, aquaculture, agritourism, competition, recreation, or silvaculture, or for other related purposes or used in the production of crops, animals, or plant or animal products for market. This definition includes but is not limited to cattle, buffalo, bison, oxen, and other bovine; horses, mules, donkeys, and other equine; goats; sheep; swine; chickens, turkeys, and other poultry; domestic rabbits; imported exotic deer and antelope, elk, farm-raised white-tailed deer, farm-raised ratites, and other farm-raised exotic animals; fish, pet turtles, and other animals identified with aquaculture which are located in artificial reservoirs or enclosures that are both on privately owned property and constructed so as to prevent, at all times, the ingress and egress of fish life from public waters; any commercial crawfish from any crawfish pond; and any hybrid, mixture, or mutation of any such animal.

(3) "Owner" means any person, partnership, corporation, or other legal entity owning, harboring, or keeping any animal.

Acts 1978, No. 394, §1; Acts 2009, No. 199, §1; Acts 2014, No. 811, §6, eff. June 23, 2014.