Mo. Rev. Stat. § 271.280
If any person sell, swap, take out of this state or willfully or negligently injure or abuse any stray before the legal title thereto shall have vested in him, then the owner, if he shall appear and prove such stray within one year from the date of taking up, may recover double the amount of all damages, with costs; but if in such case the owner do not appear and prove the same within the time limited, the taker-up shall be held absolutely liable for the contingent amount with which he stands charged on the stray fund record book, whether he produce said stray to the collector or not; provided, that if any person, after having posted any stray or strays, desire to remove from the county, he may, with the consent of the associate circuit judge or the successor of the associate circuit judge before whom the same was or were posted, turn said stray or strays over to any responsible householder of the vicinity in which the original taker-up resided, who shall take such stray or strays subject to all the provisions of this chapter, the same as the original taker-up; and said associate circuit judge shall make an entry thereof in his stray book, and certify the same to the county clerk, which certificate shall be by him recorded in the stray record of his office, and all costs incurred by the provisions of this section shall be paid by the original taker-up; but such costs shall in no case become a charge against the animal or animals taken up.
§ 271.280, RSMo
RSMo 1939 § 14525