{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-of-animals-act-northern-ireland-2011/section-3",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-of-animals-act-northern-ireland-2011/section-3.json",
  "legislation": "nia/2011/16",
  "legislation_title": "Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/welfare-of-animals-act-northern-ireland-2011",
  "path": "section/3",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "3",
  "heading": "Responsibility for animals",
  "text": "(1) In this Act, references to a person responsible for an animal are to a person responsible for an animal whether on a permanent or temporary basis.\n(2) In this Act, references to being responsible for an animal include being in charge of it.\n(3) For the purposes of this Act, a person who owns an animal shall always be regarded as being a person who is responsible for it.\n(4) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be treated as responsible for any animal for which a person under the age of 16 years, of whom the first mentioned person has actual care and control, is responsible.\n(5) For the purposes of this Act, a person does not relinquish responsibility for an animal by reason only of abandoning it.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nia/2011/16/section/3",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T20:20:48.924782+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}