Is it an offense to run down an animal and not stop?

Answer 1

It depends on the animal, but if you had a heart you would stop and tend to the poor thing

Answer 2

If this is a serious question....

Well legally.... each US state has its own laws about this...

Some yes you must stop others no

Morally however.. YES you should stop.. make sure what you hit is dead and if not get it help or call someody who can like an officer or animal rescue.

Its just the right thing to do...
I can not tell you how many animals our family has stopped to help that others have hit and left for dead... suffering.

Some do not live but many do...

Whether you are an animal or wildlife lover or not... no animal deserves tolay there suffering... not even a cat.

Having said all that...
NEVER approach an injured animal, not even a dog .. injured animals are often afraid and will often bite... best thing to do if you are not trained in this.. is to call police or your local SPCA or local wildlife rescues...

You should know that is MANY states you are requied to report hitting of wildlife and if what you hit damages your car like a deer... and you are going to file an insurance claim you will need to do a report with an officer preferrably at t he scene.

You know if you asked this question because you hit something.. you have to simply decide what you want to do.. what makes you ok ... and of course follow the local laws.

Everyone out here can tell you what they would do...
For our family,..we stop not only if we hit something but if anyone else does as well,,,but its what we do

Good Luck.....
Wismom

Answer 3

Legally, some species are protected -
Absolutely. The poor animal may only be injured and could survive with help, rather than face a long and painful death ,,How would you like to ran down and lieing in the road and keep geting hit by car time and time again till you are dead ..People think that just becouse animals cant talk they dont feel WELL they do ....They have the same things we do ,they have toe nails they have a nose ,eyes,ears,teeth,skin, feeling just becouse they dont walk upright and talk dont mean they dont feel pain ..There are storys of animals doing great things .Some have even died tring to save people not becouse they were trained to do so ,but becouse they LOVED the person >>PLEASE if you do hit an animal or even see one in or near the road stop get it out of the road .please HELP the animals ,help the world in just a small bit.YOU will be Blessed..

Answer 4

Assuming you're in the UK - it's only an offence to deliberatley run-down an animal unless you had no other choice.

If you hit a dog or livestock (eg deer, sheep, cow, horse etc) then you should report it to the Old Bill as soon as you can.
If it's a cat, then good. Jump out the car and whack the fu cker round the head with a wheelbrace. (Just to make sure it's out of it's misery of course!)

Answer 5

Legally you only have to stop for a dog but not a cat. Morally - you have to think that any animal could be a childs cherished pet and how awful if they come out looking to find it in the road. Much nicer if you've hit a cat and its alive to try and take it to the nearest vet - it costs nothing and could save much heartache for the owner. If its already dead it would still be nice if you took it to a vet as they can scan for microchips etc and inform the owner.

Answer 6

Under the Road Traffic Act you must stop and report an accident if:-

If you hit any Horse, *** ,(<- three letters relating to a donkey, begining with an 'a' followed by an 's' followed by another 's' but yahoo stops you from entering in as* even through it relates to an animal?), mule, Pig, Sheep, Cow, goat or dog. I believe its because these are animals that you could earn a living from. However if you earn a living from breeding Llamas and someone hit it, they still wouldn't have to stop!

Also you don't if it's an elephant - but it'll make a mess of your car!

Answer 7

It depends from country to country.

Most countries requires you to do whatever you can to avoid running and animal down. It is however not automatically a crime to run an animal down, and generally you will only be prosecuted if it can be proven that you
a) Did it deliberately
b) Did nothing to avoid it.

You are not expected to put yourself or anyone else at risk to try and save an animal.

Answer 8

Not only is it offensive, it's actually illegal. If you strike a domestic animal, you're required to seek medical aide for it. If it's a wild animal, such as a deer, you're required to contact the local fish and game. Granted, if you hit a deer, you'll probably be calling your insurance company!

Answer 9

yes it is an offense not to stop it is called leaving the scene of an accident! seriously my husband almost got arrested when he hit a deer and kept going because there was a police officer coming the other way and saw it happen and told him that legally he has to stop and get a report done because there could potentially be damage to your car that you could claim on your insurance illegally

Answer 10

Hard one to answer. On one hand, yes if it's someone's pet. On the other hand, alot of wild animals end up road kill which is sad. I try to stop, I don't believe I've ever actually hit an animal. My biggest fear is hitting a deer.