Animal Welfare Act 1992

If, in the opinion of a veterinary practitioner—

an animal is so severely injured, so diseased or in such a physical condition that it is cruel to keep it alive; and

the animal is not about to be destroyed, or is about to be destroyed in a manner that will inflict unnecessary pain on the animal;

seize the animal; and

give assistance to the animal; and

remove the animal to such place as the veterinary practitioner thinks fit; and

destroy the animal, or cause it to be destroyed, in a manner that causes it to die quickly and without unnecessary pain.

The reasonable expenses incurred by a veterinary practitioner in the exercise of a power conferred by subsection (1) in relation to an animal may be recovered from the owner of the animal as a debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.