Chapter 27
Laws Relating to Animals on Shabbath and Yom Tov
CATCHING ANIMALS
35.a. A Rabbinical prohibition is applicable to the catching of domestic animals
1) which are in the habit of escaping when one tries to catch them, but
2) which, if they leave their pens or cages during the course of the day, return to them at night.
35.b. Nevertheless, one is allowed to catch such an animal if
1) there is risk of loss or suffering to the animal and
2) one cannot wait until after the conclusion of Shabbath or Yom Tov.
35.c. Even in these circumstances, one should, if possible, not take the animal with one’s hand and put it in its pen or cage, since animals are muktzeh.
36. Notwithstanding the contents of the two preceding paragraphs, it is forbidden to catch
a. even a domestic animal, if it has bolted and will not return to its pen or cage at night, and
b. poultry that has been transferred to a new location to which it has not yet grown accustomed.
