Ask the Mayor: Do I Have to Pay for My Neighbor’s Dead Chicken?

Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the questions submitted to his staff.

Submit your own questions about County of Maui programs, services, operations or policies to Mayor Alan Arakawa at [email protected], (808) 270-7855 or mail them to 200 S. High St., 9th Floor, Wailuku, HI 96793.

Questions submitted will be considered for inclusion in the “Ask the Mayor” column.

Mr. Mayor,

Q: I have two dogs and one of them got loose and my neighbor says my dog killed one of his chickens and brought over the body.

I’m suspicious because all of his chickens are in chicken coops so why was this one out? That and we have plenty wild chickens running around anyway so how do I know if this one was wild or one of his property?

Because if this is his chicken, I will pay for it. It just seems a bit suspicious.

A: I don’t have any way to tell a wild chicken from a kept one; however, under Hawai‘i Revised Statutes 66-9 in regard to the “Liability of animal owners,” it states the following: “(a) The owner or harborer of an animal, if the animal proximately causes either personal or property damage to any person, shall be liable in damages to the person injured regardless of the animal owner’s or harborer’s lack of scienter of the vicious or dangerous propensities of the animal.”