bladeracer wrote:If somebody else's animal is on your property, you can indeed shoot it without their permission, provided it is doing damage or threatening your own animals.
You can't shoot it merely because it is on your property.
That's not correct, happy for you to post a law which allows this!
You can shoot them if defending yourself or any other person against the sheep or against any threat of attack by the sheep..
Pretty hard to prove you shot a some sheep because you were defending yourself against them.
bladeracer wrote:Yes, we have no intention of breaking any laws,
Shooting them without expressed consent from the owner is breaking the law.
bladeracer wrote:but also there is no intention of bringing the law down on the owner of the animals, if it can be avoided. The owner doesn't want, and frankly probably can't afford, the expense of re-fencing and trying to regain control over the animals, animals that are essentially wild ferals now.
If that is the intent,them let them be.
bladeracer wrote:This situation is a little tricky I think because there are decades of prior "tolerance" of these animals roaming freely, without them causing any trouble to neighbouring properties, until now when the situation has changed. While the intervening property was pine plantation, the animals roamed freely without damaging anything (this part of the plantation is so difficult it was never planted). Now that revegetation is occurring, very expensive seedlings are at great risk, but the property is now National Park and prohibited for shooting, before, the lessee could bring in professionals to deal with pest animals - they did not allow recreational shooters under any circumstances, even at the request of the National Park.
Sounds like its a ParksVic issue, it up to them to handle it on their property, when they come on the famers property the Impounding of Livestock Act 1994 is the legal way to deal with them.
Shooting them is illegal.