When a division fence is suddenly damaged or destroyed by fire, winds, or floods, a person who ought to repair the same shall do so within 10 days after being thereto requested by a person interested therein, and shall pay the damages done to the opposite party by animals straying from his or her occupied lands to those of the other party during the time the fence is out of repair. If he or she does not make or repair his or her portion of the fence within 10 days after such request, the party sustaining damage thereby may make or repair the same at the expense of the person neglecting so to do, and may recover the same in a civil action on this statute.
24 V.S.A. § 3809