Any law enforcement officer, agent of the board, or agent or officer of any humane society finding an animal neglected, abandoned, mistreated, or subjected to cruelty, may, pursuant to a warrant or court order, cause the animal to be impounded and properly cared for, and the expenses of such impoundment or care constitute a lien on the animal to be paid before the animal may be lawfully recovered. However, a warrant or court order is not necessary for law enforcement officers if the animal is severely injured, severely diseased, or suffering and any delay in impounding the animal would continue to cause the animal extreme suffering or if other exigent circumstances exist. If any animal is impounded or subjected to other action under this section without a warrant or court order, the officer shall subsequently show cause for the impoundment or other action to the court, and the court shall issue an order ratifying the impoundment or action; or, if sufficient cause for the impoundment or action is not shown, the court shall order the return of the animal to the owner or other appropriate remedy.
S.D. Codified Laws § 40-1-5
Impoundment of neglected, abandoned, mistreated, or cruelly treated animal--Expenses of care as lien--Warrant or court order
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case State v. FIFTEEN IMPOUNDED CATS (2010)
Most recently applied in State v. Buffalo Chip (November 2020)
Source: SDC 1939, § 40.2202; SL 1991, ch 331, § 15; SL 2006, ch 211, § 8; SL 2014, ch 194, § 7.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: South Dakota Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain South Dakota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.