Also known as: animal ferae naturae · ferae naturae · wild animals · animals of a wild nature
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
Wild animals that exist in a state of nature rather than under human domestication. A possessor of such an animal is subject to strict liability for harm caused by dangerous propensities characteristic of the species or known to the possessor.
Ava Adebayo operates an outdoor venue and keeps several wolves in a backstage enclosure for performances. One wolf escapes through a gap and bites a trespasser who entered the restricted area at night. The injury resulted from the wolf's characteristic predatory behavior. The venue faces strict liability because the harm arose from a dangerous propensity typical of wolves.
Alliance Holdings maintains an injured sea lion in a low pen near a shipyard dock. A trespasser leans over the barrier and suffers a bite from the animal's aggressive lunge. Liability attaches because the attack stemmed from a propensity common to sea lions of that class.
Alpine Mining keeps several coyotes in a wire-mesh enclosure on its property after they sustained permanent injuries. A known loose panel allows one coyote to escape and injure a trespasser. The possessor is liable because the escape and attack flowed from a dangerous trait typical of the animals.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
No. The possessor remains liable even after exercising the utmost care to confine the animal or prevent harm.
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Liability extends only to harm resulting from a dangerous propensity characteristic of wild animals of that class or known to the possessor.
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A possessor is not subject to strict liability to a person who intentionally or negligently trespasses, even if the trespasser had no reason to know the animal was present.
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Negligence liability to trespassers is analyzed under the same rules that apply to other artificial conditions or activities on the land rather than under a special heightened standard triggered by the presence of a wild animal.
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…Indeed, a State may criminalize an act that other States choose to reward — punishing, for example, the killing of endangered wild animals for which other States are offering a bounty. What greater disproportion could there be than that? "Absent a constitutionally imposed uniformity inimical to traditional notions of…