Definition
Wild animals are animals living in a state of nature — that is, not domesticated, not reduced to possession by human ownership, and not subject to individual property rights in the ordinary sense. The term is the English equivalent of the Latin *feræ naturæ* (animals of a wild nature), the traditional common-law classification that determined what rights, if any, a person could hold in an animal.
Under the common law, wild animals are not owned by anyone in their natural state. Property rights in a wild animal arise only through capture or reduction to possession, and they are lost when the animal escapes and returns to its natural liberty. This distinguishes wild animals from domestic animals (*domitæ naturæ*), in which a permanent property interest can be held.
The classification carries significant legal consequences in three distinct areas:
1. Property law: A landowner does not own wild animals merely by virtue of owning the land on which they are found. The state, under the public trust doctrine, holds wild animals in trust for the people, and individual ownership arises only through lawful taking.
2. Tort law: A person who keeps a wild animal is subject to strict liability for injuries it causes, without proof of negligence or prior notice of the animal's dangerous propensity. This rule applies because the dangerous nature of wild animals is presumed as a matter of law — the keeper takes the risk.
3. Regulatory and statutory law: The term is a threshold classification in wildlife law, hunting and fishing statutes, the Endangered Species Act, and related federal and state schemes that distinguish regulated wild animals from livestock or pets.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Simply the plural of "wild animal" — any animal living in nature, as opposed to one kept as a pet or livestock.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Animals in a natural, undomesticated state; those not tamed or reclaimed.
The gap between common and legal meaning is structural rather than semantic. In ordinary language, "wild animal" describes a biological or behavioral fact. In law, it is a classification that triggers specific property, liability, and regulatory rules. A once-wild animal that has been fully tamed and kept in captivity for generations may still be classified as *feræ naturæ* for liability purposes, while a domesticated species gone feral is generally still treated as *domitæ naturæ*. The legal category does not track the animal's actual behavior — it tracks the species.
Common Confusion
Wild animals are sometimes confused with "dangerous animals" in tort discussions. They are related but not identical concepts. Not every wild animal is equally dangerous, and not every dangerous animal is legally wild. The strict liability rule for wild animals does not depend on proving that a particular animal was dangerous — it follows automatically from the classification. Separately, courts occasionally blur the line between the wild/domestic classification and the "abnormally dangerous activity" doctrine, which applies a different strict liability framework. The two overlap in result but not in doctrine.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
The common law recognized a graduated set of rights short of full ownership that a person could hold in wild animals:
- *Feræ naturæ* with a *qualified property* interest: A landowner who has enclosed wild animals on their land, or a person who has reduced them to possession, holds a qualified property right that ends if the animal escapes without intent to return (*animus revertendi*).
- *Ratione soli*: A landowner's right to take wild animals on their own land, not a property right in the animals themselves but a right of first capture.
- Animals *animo revertendi*: Wild animals that have developed a habit of returning — such as trained hawks or homing pigeons — in which a more durable qualified property interest was recognized.
Why It Matters in Research
The doctrinal action is largely in the *feræ naturæ* entry, and researchers should trace both terms. Bouvier's cross-reference to FERÆ NATURÆ and WHELP is essential: the whelp entry addressed when a property interest in unborn or newly born wild animals could attach, which was a discrete common-law problem.
Two traps for historical researchers: First, early American cases use the Latin and English terms interchangeably and inconsistently. A case discussing "feræ naturæ" may be resolved on property grounds while a case discussing "wild animals" may be a tort case — the doctrinal contexts differ. Second, the public trust doctrine for wildlife developed unevenly across jurisdictions and hardened into its modern form through late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century litigation. Cases before that period may reflect older fee-simple-in-land-includes-animals reasoning that was later rejected.
For tort researchers, the strict liability rule for wild animals is distinct from the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 507 framework and the later abnormally dangerous activity doctrine in § 519–520. The encyclopedia entry on strict liability and abnormally dangerous activities addresses this distinction directly and should be consulted alongside this entry.
Wildlife regulatory research requires attention to the federal/state divide. Pre-1900 sources reflect near-total state control. Post-*Missouri v. Holland* (1920) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, federal supremacy over migratory species is settled, and the term "wild animals" in federal statutes operates in a different regulatory space than in state wildlife codes.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's entry is deliberately sparse — "Animals in a state of nature; animals feræ naturæ" — functioning as a pointer to the substantive entries at ANIMALS and FERÆ NATURÆ rather than a standalone definition. This reflects the nineteenth-century practice of consolidating doctrine under the Latin term rather than the vernacular one. Researchers using Bouvier's should not read the brief wild animals entry in isolation.
What Bouvier's and its contemporaries do not address is the modern statutory and regulatory layer. The public trust doctrine as applied to wildlife, the Endangered Species Act's species-level protections, and strict liability doctrine as codified in the Restatement are all post-Bouvier developments. Historical dictionary support is therefore useful for property doctrine and the common-law tort rule, but limited for anything touching modern wildlife law.
Jurisdictional Note
The strict liability rule for wild animals is widely recognized across American jurisdictions but has been modified by statute in some states. A handful of states have abolished common-law strict liability for animal injuries and replaced it with statutory schemes. The public trust doctrine for wildlife is broadly adopted but its scope — particularly as to non-migratory species and marine animals — varies. Researchers should not assume uniform application from common-law principles alone.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Torts & Personal Injury Encyclopedia: Strict Liability and Abnormally Dangerous Activities — Wild Animal Liability (torts_139). Primary reference for the strict liability framework and its relationship to the abnormally dangerous activity doctrine.
The Law Mind Environmental & Energy Law Encyclopedia: Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, Wilderness Act, and Preservation Statutes (environmental_40). Relevant for the regulatory and public land dimensions of wild animal classification in federal law.