Northern Territory Consolidated Regulations Northern Territory Consolidated Regulations(1) This clause applies to a dog if:
(a) a pound supervisor takes custody of the dog after it is seized under these By-laws; and
(b) the pound supervisor:
(i) receives advice from a veterinarian that the dog is, or is suspected of being, diseased; or
(ii) notices or suspects that the dog is diseased.
(2) The pound supervisor must:
(a) isolate the dog from other dogs in the pound; and
(b) notify the Corporation of the dog's condition.
(3) The Corporation must serve on the owner, if known, of a dog isolated under clause (2) written notice that the dog is, or is suspected of being, diseased and that the Corporation:
(a) requires the dog to be destroyed; or
(b) requires the dog to undergo a course of treatment specified in the notice.
(4) In a notice served under clause (3), the Corporation may require the owner of the dog to produce to the Corporation, within the time specified in the notice, a report prepared by a veterinarian or other person specified in the notice relating to:
(a) if the dog is not required to be destroyed – the disease of the dog; and
(b) in any other case – all other dogs usually kept at the premises where the dog was kept.
(5) A dog the subject of a notice under this by-law may be released from the pound in accordance with by-law 19D, subject to any conditions the Corporation thinks fit to impose.
(6) A pound supervisor may, without prior notice to the owner of a dog in a pound, destroy the dog if the dog is so diseased or injured that it is humane to destroy it.
(7) The cost of treatment reasonably provided by a pound supervisor to a diseased dog, and to any other dog in the pound that was infected or was at risk of being infected by the diseased dog before the supervisor could reasonably isolate it, is a debt due and payable by the owner of the diseased dog to the Corporation.
(8) An owner of a dog commits an offence if the owner:
(a) fails to comply with a requirement of a notice imposed under clause (4); or
(b) fails to comply with a condition imposed under clause (5).
Maximum penalty: 20 penalty units.
(9) An offence against clause (8) is an offence of strict liability.
(10) It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against clause (8) if the defendant has a reasonable excuse.
Note for clause (10)
The defendant has an evidential burden in relation to the matters in clause (10) (see section 43BU of the Criminal Code).