§ 92.003.Limitation of Liability for Animal Control Agencies and Certain Employees

The institutional counterpart to the individual protection.

An animal control agency or an employee acting within the scope of employment that in good faith takes into custody and cares for a nonlivestock animal that is abandoned, running at large, or stray is not liable for civil damages for an injury to the animal arising from that custody and care.

The situations covered are the three the previous section lists minus emergency — abandoned, running at large, or stray. An agency taking custody after a collision is doing so because the animal is at large or stray, so the omission changes little.

No owner-notification condition applies here, and none is needed: locating owners is what an animal control agency does as a matter of course, under its own governing law.

No veterinarian determination is required either. An agency holding an animal makes care decisions continuously, and requiring a professional determination for each would be unworkable.

The protection is against injury to the animal, which is the exposure an agency faces. An owner who reclaims a pet in worse condition than it went in has a claim against the agency, and without this section the agency would be answerable for the ordinary risks of housing animals.

Note that a municipal or county agency is a governmental unit under the Tort Claims Act, so this section adds to protections that agency already has.