When any person is bitten or attacked by a dog
or other animal subject to rabies or other like contagious or dangerous
disease, such person, his parents, or guardian if he is a minor, the
owner of the animal, or the person having possession or control thereof,
the physician who treats the bite or wound, and any veterinarian or
lay person having knowledge of such bite or wound must immediately
notify the Board of Health. The person owning or having possession
or control of the offending animal must immediately provide for the
examination and observation of such animal by a licensed veterinarian
of the State of New Jersey. Said veterinarian shall immediately report
his findings to the Board by telephone and shall confirm such report
in writing within 24 hours. After such preliminary examination the
animal may be returned to the custody of the person from whom it was
received, except that if the animal has inflicted a face bite it shall
not be returned but shall be confined for such period of observation
as the Board may direct, in a veterinary hospital or other place approved
by the Board. An animal must be returned after preliminary examination
for reexamination after 10 days to the veterinarian who made the preliminary
examination, said veterinarian shall report his findings to the Board
immediately, by telephone and in writing within 24 hours. The animal
shall then be released to the person from whom it was received unless
the animal is rabid or suspected of being rabid.
Any animal confined, under order of the Board
of Health, shall not be released until a certificate of release has
been issued by the Board.
The owner or other person in charge of any dog,
cat or other animal known to be rabid or suffering from any other
like contagious or dangerous disease or is known to have been bitten
by an animal known to have been infected by or with rabies or any
other like contagious or dangerous disease, shall, upon notice by
the Board, do either of the following:
A. Confine such animal for a period of six months; or
B. Cause such animal to be put to death.
Any person who shall keep or harbor a dog of
licensing age (attained the age of seven months, or which possesses
a set of permanent teeth) shall in the month of January and annually
thereafter apply for and procure from the Secretary of the Board a
license and official metal registration tag for each such dog so owned,
kept or harbored, and shall place upon each such dog a collar or harness
with the registration securely fastened.
Any person who violates any provision of this article shall be subject to the general penalty, as stated in Chapter
1, General Provisions, Article
II, General Penalty.