[Adopted 5-28-1987 by Ord. No. 19-87]
The short title of this article shall be the
"Cat Ordinance of the Township of Hanover."
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A dog or cat.
Any person or agency designated or certified by the State
of New Jersey to enforce the provisions of this article.
Any member of the domestic feline specie, male, female or
altered.
Any cat over six months of age or which possesses a set of
permanent teeth.
Any room or group of rooms, cage or exhibition pen, not part
of a kennel, wherein cats for sale are kept or displayed.
The office of the Township Clerk or any other designated
department or representative of the Township so charged by the Township
Committee with administering the issuance and/or revocation of permits
and licenses under the provisions of this article.
Rendered permanently incapable of reproduction as certified
by a licensed veterinarian.
Any individual, corporation, partnership, organization or
institution commonly recognized by law as a unit.
A.
License required; exceptions. No person shall own, keep or harbor or maintain any cat over six months of age within Hanover Township unless such cat is vaccinated against rabies and licensed. All cat owners shall register and obtain a license for each cat to be issued by the Township Clerk upon application by the owner and payment of the prescribed application fee as set forth under § 117-21A below. The provisions of this section do not apply to cats held in a cattery or those held by a state or federally licensed research facility or a veterinary establishment where cats are received or kept for diagnostic, medical, surgical or other treatments or licensed animal shelters, pounds, kennels or pet shops.
B.
Vaccination. All cats shall be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian in accordance with the latest Compendium of Animal Rabies Vaccines and Recommendations for Immunization, published by the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, except as provided for in Subsection D of this section.
C.
Vaccination certificate. A certificate of vaccination
against rabies shall be issued to the owner of each animal vaccinated
on a form recommended by the state.
D.
Exemptions. Any cat may be exempted from the requirements
of such vaccination for a specified period of time by the local Board
of Health upon presentation of a veterinarian's certificate stating
that because of any infirmity or other physical condition, or regimen
of therapy, the inoculation of such cat shall be deemed inadvisable.
A.
Procuring license and registration tag. The owner
of any cat which attains licensing age or any person who owns, keeps
or harbors a cat shall, within 10 days after he/she obtains possession
of such cat and annually thereafter, in the month of January, apply
for and procure from the office of the Township Clerk a license and
official registration tag for each such cat so owned, kept or harbored.
All such applications shall be made to the Township Clerk prior to
January 31 and each succeeding year thereafter. No person shall own,
keep or harbor within his/her household more than five cats within
the Township of Hanover. Any person who owns, keeps or harbors a cat
shall place upon each cat a collar with the registration tag securely
fastened to it.
B.
Licensed cats brought into jurisdiction. Any person
who shall bring or cause to be brought into the Township of Hanover
any cat licensed in another state for the current year and bearing
a registration tag, and shall keep the same or permit the same to
be kept within the Township of Hanover for a period of more than 90
days, shall immediately apply for a license and registration tag for
each such cat.
C.
Unlicensed cats brought into jurisdiction. Any person
who shall bring or cause to be brought in the Township of Hanover
any unlicensed cat, and shall keep same or permit same to be kept
within the Township of Hanover for a period of more than 10 days,
shall immediately apply for a license and registration tag for each
such cat not to exceed five in number.
D.
Renewal. Any valid New Jersey license tag issued by a New Jersey municipality shall be accepted by the Township during any current year as evidence of compliance. The fee for the renewal of the license and registration tag shall conform to the license fee schedule of the Township as set forth below under § 117-21A, and the renewal of said license shall be made prior to January 31 of each succeeding year. Any owner of a cat licensed in another New Jersey municipality shall also, upon renewal, be required to comply with § 117-20 of this article in providing evidence that said cat has been inoculated with a rabies vaccination.
A.
Application; registration numbers. The application
shall state the breed, sex, age, color and markings of the cat for
which license and registration are sought and whether it is of a long-
or short-haired variety. The application shall also state the name,
street and post office address of the owner and of the person who
will keep or harbor such cat. It shall also list any tattoo or other
bodily marking applied to the cat for identification purposes. The
information on the application and the registration number issued
for the cat shall be preserved for a period of three years by the
Clerk. Registration numbers shall be issued in the order of the application.
B.
License forms and tags. License forms and official
tags shall be furnished by the Township and shall be numbered serially.
Each tag shall bear the year of issuance and the name Hanover Township.
The Township Clerk or any other Township official
designated by the Township Committee shall not grant any license and
official tag for any cat unless the owner thereof provides evidence
that the cat to be licensed and registered has been inoculated with
a rabies vaccine of a type approved by and administered in accordance
with the recommendations of the United States Department of Agriculture
and the United States Department of Human Services or has been certified
exempt as provided by § 117-17D of this article. The rabies
inoculation shall be administered by a duly licensed veterinarian
or by such other veterinarian permitted by law to do the same. The
owner of any cat licensed on or after January 1, 1988, shall provide
proof at the time of licensing that his/her cat has been inoculated
with a rabies vaccine in accordance with all the provisions of this
article.
A.
License and tag fees. The person applying for the license and registration tag of a cat shall pay an annual fee as provided in Chapter 125, Fees, if the cat has been altered or spayed, and if the cat has not been altered or spayed, the annual fee shall be as provided in Chapter 125, Fees. The lesser fee charged for the altered or spayed cat shall be made where the applicant for the fee shall submit with the application a signed statement that the cat is spayed or altered.
[Amended 7-11-1991 by Ord. No. 16-91]
B.
Renewals. For each annual renewal, the fee for the license and for the registration tag shall be the same as for the original license and tag set forth in Subsection A above. The licenses, registration tags and renewals thereof shall expire on the last day of January of the following year.
C.
Late fee. Any person who shall fail to obtain a license as required within the time period specified in this section shall be subject to a delinquent or late fee as provided in Chapter 125, Fees, for each cat.
[Amended 7-11-1991 by Ord. No. 16-91]
D.
Proof of licensing. Proof of licensing shall be produced
by any person owning, keeping, maintaining or harboring a cat, upon
the request of the Township Clerk, any Township health official, police
officer, animal control officer or other official of the Township
designated to implement and enforce provisions of this article.
No person except an official in the performance
of his duties shall remove a registration tag from the collar of any
cat without the consent of the owner, nor shall any person attach
a registration tag to a cat for which it was not issued.
The Dog Warden shall take into custody and impound or cause to be taken into custody and impounded, and thereafter destroyed or disposed of as provided in §§ 117-24 and 117-25:
A.
Any cat off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring the cat which the Dog Warden or his assistant
or assistants have reason to believe is a stray cat.
B.
Any cat without a current registration tag on his
collar, unless it has a visible tattoo or other bodily identification
marking, approved by the Dog Warden, applied to it, or any cat which
the Dog Warden has reason to believe is diseased.
If any cat so seized wears a collar having inscribed
thereon or attached thereto the name and address of any person or
a registration tag, or if the cat has proper identification marking
as herein provided, or if the owner or other person keeping or harboring
the cat is otherwise known, the Dog Warden or any person authorized
by him in that behalf may return the cat to the owner, and if not,
he shall forthwith serve on the person whose address is given on the
collar or the person whose name is registered as the owner, or on
the owner or on the person keeping or harboring the cat, if otherwise
known, a notice in writing. The notice shall state that the cat has
been seized and will be liable to be disposed of or destroyed if not
claimed within seven days after the service of the notice. A notice
under this section may be served 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.
[Amended 7-11-1991 by Ord. No. 16-91]
For every cat impounded, there shall be detention expense charged in the amount as provided in Ch. 125, Fees, which amount shall include maintenance for the first calendar day. Thereafter there shall be a maintenance charge for each cat so seized at the rate as provided in Chapter 125, Fees. When any cat so seized has been detained for seven days after seizure, when notice has not been given and cannot be given as set forth in § 117-24, and if the owner or person keeping or harboring the cat has not claimed the cat and has not paid expenses incurred by reason of its detention, including the maintenance charge, or if the cat is unlicensed at the time of the seizure and the owner or person keeping or harboring the cat has not produced a license and registration tag for said cat, the Dog Warden may cause the cat to be placed with some responsible person desiring said cat, or otherwise.
No person shall abandon any cat, no matter what
its age may be, within the Township of Hanover. No person shall hinder,
molest or interfere with anyone authorized or empowered to perform
any duty under this article.
A.
License fees and other moneys collected or received
under the provisions of this article shall be forwarded to the Treasurer
of the municipality and shall be placed in a special account separate
from any of the other accounts of the municipality and shall be used
for the following purposes only:
(1)
Collecting, keeping and disposing of cats liable to
seizure.
(2)
Local prevention and control of rabies.
(3)
Providing antirabies treatment under the direction
of the local Board of Health for any person known or suspected to
have been exposed to rabies.
(4)
Administering the provisions of this article.
B.
Any unexpended balance remaining in such special account
shall be retained until the end of the third fiscal year following
and may be used for any of the purposes set forth in this section.
At the end of the said third fiscal year following and at the end
of each fiscal year thereafter, there shall be transferred from such
special account to the general fund of the municipality any amount
then in such account which is in excess of the total amount paid into
the special account during the last two fiscal years next preceding.
