Ohio Rev. Code » Chapter 951
Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 951.11 (2026)

Strays

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Effective:
September 29, 2011
Latest Legislation:
House Bill 153, House Bill 22 - 129th General Assembly
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A person finding an animal at large in violation of section 951.02 of the Revised Code, may, and a law enforcement officer of a county, township, city, or village, on view or information, shall, take and confine that animal, promptly giving notice of the taking and confining of the animal to the owner or keeper, if known, and, if not known, by publishing a notice describing the animal once in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, township, city, or village where the animal was found. If the owner or keeper does not appear and claim the animal and pay the compensation prescribed in section 951.13 of the Revised Code for so taking, advertising, and keeping it within ten days from the date of the notice, that person or the county shall have a lien for that compensation, and the animal may be sold at public auction as provided in section 1311.49 of the Revised Code. The residue of the proceeds of sale shall be paid and deposited by the treasurer in the general fund of the county.

The Legislative Service Commission presents the text of this section as a composite of the section as amended by multiple acts of the General Assembly. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1989–2015 · leading case: State v. Walker, 841 N.E.2d 376 (Ohio Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2005).
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State v. Walker, 841 N.E.2d 376 (Ohio Ct. App. 2d Dist. 2005). “{¶ 86} Finally, R.C. 951.11 grants a possessory lien in favor of individuals who find animals at large in violation of R.”
White v. Elias, 2012-Ohio-3814. “) R.C. 951.11; see Albright v. Payne, 43 Ohio St.”
Rayner v. Lowe, 572 N.E.2d 245 (Ohio Ct. App. 5th Dist. 1989). “R.C. 951.11 makes it permissible, but not mandatory, for a private person who finds a stray animal to take it and confine it.”
Sanders v. Frank, 2015-Ohio-3644. “R.C. 951.11 (“[a] person finding an animal at large in violation of section 951.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.