§ 5-33. Animals at-large prohibited.

(a)

Prohibition of animals at-large.

(1)

No domestic animal owner or person having charge, care, custody or control of any domestic animal shall permit, any domestic animal to run at large, upon any public property, or off the premises of the owner.

(2)

An officer finding a domestic animal at-large may issue a warning or a citation for such violation. If the owner cannot be identified and located with reasonable effort, such animal may be seized and impounded.

(3)

No domestic animal at-large shall be permitted to cause injury, or threat of injury, to any person, or cause property damage.

(4)

The owner or keeper of a female dog or cat in heat (estrus) shall confine such dog or cat so as to make it inaccessible to any male dog or cat except for controlled and intentional breeding purposes.

(5)

It shall be a violation of this article for the owner or keeper of a dog or cat to tie, chain or otherwise tether such animal in such a manner that it has access to public property or the property of another without the consent of the property owner.

(6)

Any domestic animal transported in any open vehicle shall either be within a cage, crate or pen, which is well ventilated and secured within the body of the vehicle, or restrained by one (1) tether, affixed to the center of the vehicle and attached to the collar or harness of the animal to prevent the animal from escaping or causing injury to itself or any person. The tether shall be short enough to prevent the animal's head from reaching the sides or back of the vehicle. Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to prohibit the transportation of horses, cattle, sheep, poultry or other agricultural livestock in trailers or other vehicles designed and constructed for such purposes.

(b)

Seizure of at-large animals; harboring and finder-ownership.

(1)

When a domestic animal is at-large a person may seize such animal in a humane manner if the owner of the animal is unknown to the person and the owner of the animal is not identified by any form of identification. Any person, who finds a stray domestic animal, where the owner is unknown, shall relinquish custody to the animal services division or file a found animal report with the animal services division within two (2) calendar days after finding the animal. If the person desires to maintain the seized animal as their own, he/she shall maintain such animal for the time set forth in subsection (2) hereinafter.

(2)

Any person who keeps a found domestic animal for thirty (30) consecutive days, and no owner is found, shall be conclusively presumed to be the owner of such animal.

(Ord. No. 95-32, § 6, 9-26-95; Ord. No. 2005-07 , § 7, 7-12-05)

Editor's note

Prior to its reinstatement by Ord. No. 95-32, section 5-33 had been repealed by § 9 of Ord. No. 91-8, adopted April 2, 1981. Prior to this repeal, section 5-28 pertained to seizure of animals and derived from Code 1965, § 3-10, and Ord. No. 87-9, § 10, adopted Mar. 9, 1987.