The law is extremely clear regarding the liability of an animal owner for causing any damage, including traffic accidents. Specifically, if the animal is a pet and has an owner, the owner is strictly liable for any damage caused, regardless of the degree of fault, except when the pet is intended for guarding the owner’s house, profession, or livelihood. In such cases, the owner is not liable for compensation if they prove that they were not negligent in guarding the animal or that the damage caused could not have been avoided even if they had exercised due care and followed the necessary rules for the supervision and control of the animal.
However, a different legal treatment applies when the animal causing the traffic accident has no owner but is a stray.
In this case, liability arises against the Municipalities, which according to the law, are obliged to take care of the collection and management of stray companion animals. For this purpose, each Municipality or neighboring/cooperating Municipalities establish and operate municipal or inter-municipal veterinary clinics and shelters for stray companion animals, allowing cooperation with interested animal welfare organizations and associations or even volunteer animal lovers, in privately owned, rented, or publicly granted spaces by the State, the Region, or private individuals. For the collection of stray companion animals, teams are formed from persons suitably trained and experienced in the capture of companion animals.
Given the above, Municipalities are responsible for taking all necessary measures and creating the conditions so that stray animals do not roam within their administrative boundaries, by establishing appropriate structures.
Therefore, in the event that a traffic accident occurs due to a stray animal, the injured party has the right to sue the relevant Municipality, according to Articles 105 and 106 of the Code of Administrative Procedure, through an action filed at the Administrative Court of First Instance, and to claim compensation for the damage suffered. This liability of the Municipality is strict (objective), and the injured party is not required to allege or prove fault on the part of the municipal authorities, but only the unlawful omission of collecting the stray animals and the causal connection between that omission and the resulting damage.
