The Township Council shall have the power to
appoint an Animal Control Officer, who shall function under the direction
of the Chief of Police of the Township.
A.
The Township Animal Control Officer shall take into
custody and impound or cause to be taken into custody and impounded,
and thereafter destroyed or disposed of as provided in this article:
(1)
Any dog off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring said dog which said official or his agent or
agents have reason to believe is a stray dog.
(2)
Any dog off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring said dog without a current registration tag on
his collar.
(3)
Any female dog in season off the premises of the owner
or of the person keeping or harboring said dog.
(4)
Any dog found on premises which are uninhabited, vacant
or unoccupied by the owner or the person keeping or harboring said
dog. This subsection is intended to eliminate a situation within the
Township of Pemberton where properties are neither occupied by the
owners nor leased to tenants but where dogs are kept and harbored.
[Added 8-18-1988 by Ord. No. 15-1988]
B.
If any dog so seized wears a collar or harness having
inscribed thereon or attached thereto the name and address of any
person or a registration tag, or the owner or the person keeping or
harboring said dog is known, the Animal Control Officer shall forthwith
serve on the person whose address is given on the collar, or on the
owner or the person keeping or harboring said dog, if known, a notice
in writing stating that the dog has been seized and will be liable
to be disposed of or destroyed if not claimed within seven days after
service of the notice.
C.
A notice under this section may be served either by
delivering it to the person on whom it is to be served or by leaving
it at the person's usual or last known place of abode or at the address
given on the collar, or by forwarding it by post, in a prepaid letter,
addressed to that person at his usual or last known place of abode
or to the address given on the collar.
D.
When any dog so seized has been detained for seven
days after notice, when notice has been given as above set forth,
or has been detained for seven days after seizure, when no notice
has been given as above set forth, and if the owner or person keeping
or harboring said dog has not claimed said dog and paid all expenses
incurred by reason of its detention, including a redemption fee of
$5 per dog per incident plus maintenance charge of $4 per calendar
day, and if the dog be unlicensed at the time of seizure and the owner
or person keeping or harboring said dog has not produced a license
and registration tag for said dog, the Animal Control Officer may
cause the dog to be destroyed in a manner causing as little pain as
possible. (N.J.S.A. 4:19-15.16)
[Amended 8-17-1984 by Ord. No. 14-1984]
Any officer or agent authorized or empowered
to perform any duty under this Act[1] is hereby authorized to go upon any premises to seize
for impounding any dog or dogs which he may lawfully seize and impound
when such officer is in immediate pursuit of such dog or dogs, except
upon the premises of the owner of the dog if said owner is present
and forbids the same. (N.J.S.A. 4:19-15.17)
[1]
Editor's Note: The "Act" referred to is N.J.S.A.
4:19-15.1 et seq.
No person shall hinder, molest or interfere
with anyone authorized or empowered to perform any duty under this
article.
No person owning, keeping, harboring or having
custody of any dog(s) shall suffer or permit said dog(s) to be upon
the public streets or in any of the public places or semipublic areas
of a multidwelling complex of the Township unless such dog is accompanied
by a person and is securely confined and controlled by an adequate
leash not more than 10 feet long.
A.
The owner of any dog which shall bite a person while
such person is on or in a public place or lawfully on or in a private
place, including the property of the owner of the dog, shall be liable
for such damages as may be suffered by the person bitten, regardless
of the former viciousness of such dog or the owner's knowledge of
such viciousness.
B.
For the purpose of this article, a person is lawfully
upon the private property of such owner when he is on the property
in the performance of any duty imposed upon him by the laws of this
state or the laws or postal regulations of the United States, or when
he is on such property upon the invitation, express or implied, of
the owner thereof. (N.J.S.A. 4:19-16)
The enforcement officer shall serve notice upon
the owner or person in charge of a dog, cat or other animal which
has attacked or bitten a person, to confine the animal at the expense
of the owner or person in charge of it upon the premises of the owner
or person in charge or at some other place designated in the notice
for at least 10 days after the animal has attacked or bitten a person.
(N.J.S.A. 26:4-82)
An animal quarantined under order shall not
be released until a certificate of release has been issued by the
Board of Health. (N.J.S.A. 26:4-85)
A duly authorized agent of the Township shall
be permitted by the owner or person in charge of a dog, cat or other
animal which has attacked or bitten a person, to examine the animal
at any time, and daily if desired, within a period of 10 days after
the animal has attacked or bitten a person, to determine whether the
animal shows symptoms of rabies. No person shall refuse, obstruct
or interfere with the examination. (N.J.S.A. 26:4-86)
The Township Council may designate any time
during which dogs outside the owners', keepers' or harborers' premises
shall be muzzled, such designation to be by publication at least three
times in a newspaper in which legal notices of the Township may be
published, and after such publication, no person owning, keeping or
harboring a dog shall permit it upon a public highway, public place
or outside the premises occupied by said owner, keeper or harborer
during the period designated unless such dog wears a muzzle securely
fastened over its jaws in such manner that it cannot bite.
The Mayor and the Township Clerk, with the consent
of the governing body of such municipality, may, whenever the public
safety may require such action, issue a proclamation authorizing the
killing of any dog or dogs in a pack found running at large within
the Township without being properly muzzled with a wire muzzle securely
fastened about the nose. (N.J.S.A. 26:4-9)
The Township Council may appoint one or more
persons to kill dogs running at large after the issuance of a proclamation
as provided above, and any such person or persons so appointed shall
have full power and authority and are hereby authorized to kill any
such dogs found running at large. No dog shall be killed until notice
of the proclamation has been given for one day by written or printed
handbills, and no dog shall be killed which is accompanied by its
owner. (N.J.S.A. 26:4-91)
A.
No person owning, keeping, harboring or having the
custody or possession of a vicious dog, as defined, whether registered
or not, shall permit such dog to run at large in the Township or permit
such dog to be in or upon any public street, avenue, road or highway
or in or upon any public or quasi-public place unless such dog at
such time shall be led by a chain, cord or other leash in the hands
of a person capable of leading and controlling such dog or shall be
securely confined in an automobile or other vehicle.
B.
Any vicious dog which shall be in or upon any public
street, avenue, road or highway or in or upon any public or quasi-public
place, or which shall run at large in the Township in violation of
this section, may be seized, taken into custody, impounded and destroyed
or otherwise disposed of by the Animal Control Officer, any member
of the Police Department or police force of the Township or by any
other person or persons so designated by the Township Council.
C.
Any person who shall own, keep or harbor or have custody
or possession of an uncontrolled or vicious dog, as defined, and who
shall permit said dog to remain on his or its premises but outside
the confines of a closed structure thereon, must muzzle, legally fence
in or securely leash or chain said dog in such a manner as to prevent
said dog from attacking or biting a person lawfully on said premises
as earlier defined in this article.
D.
Any person who shall own, keep, harbor or have possession
of an uncontrolled or vicious dog, as previously defined, and who
shall be convicted of a second violation of any section of this article
involving the same vicious dog, may, in addition to other prescribed
penalties, be ordered, in the discretion of the Judge of the Municipal
Court of the Township, to permanently remove said vicious dog from
the confines of the Township.
E.
No person, with the exception of duly appointed public
officials or employees acting in their official capacity, shall keep,
harbor, have custody or possession of any dog which has been or shall
be intentionally trained to attack, injure, maim or kill any human
being or domestic pet voluntarily or upon command. Such dogs to be
included are so-called "sentry," "security," "warehouse" or "K-9"
animals which are trained for attack on humans or on other animals.
[Amended 8-17-1984 by Ord. No. 14-1984; 11-2-1984 by Ord. No. 26-1984; 8-18-1988 by Ord. No. 15-1988]
Any person who shall molest, obstruct or interfere with the poundkeeper, a dog catcher, a dog warden, an animal control officer, a member of the Police Department of the Township or any other duly authorized agent or representative of the Township while engaged in the enforcement of Part 1 of this chapter or any persons who shall violate any of the provisions hereof shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable for each offense by a fine of not more than $1,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 90 days or to a period of community service not exceeding 90 days.
