[Adopted 12-4-1935 by Ord. No. 84]
[Amended 1-26-1971 by Ord. No. 559]
No person, firm or corporation shall own, keep or harbor a dog, male or female, within the Borough of Middlesex, without first having obtained from the Borough Clerk a license therefor, which license shall be granted upon application to such Borough Clerk upon forms to be supplied by said Borough Clerk and shall be effective from the 31st day of January of each year, for the term of one year. A metal tag containing the number of the license issued to the owner of such dog shall be given by the Borough Clerk and shall be attached, by the owner, to a collar with which all dogs shall be furnished and which at all times shall be kept upon such dog.
[Amended 12-28-1955 by Ord. No. 244; 8-8-1967 by Ord. No. 469; 1-26-1971 by Ord. No. 559; 12-23-1975 by Ord. No. 698; 12-30-1980 by Ord. No. 883; 10-13-1981 by Ord. No. 913; 11-22-1983 by Ord. No. 986; 8-28-2007 by Ord. No. 1720; 10-12-2010 by Ord. No. 1784[1]]
For the granting of such license, there shall be paid to the Borough Clerk by the applicant a license fee of $8.80, plus state-imposed fees of $1.20, or a total of $10, for each dog for the year in which such license is issued, which license fee shall be nonrefundable. For unspayed/unneutered dogs of reproductive age, an additional state fee of $3 shall be paid for each license. The license fee shall be turned over to the Borough Treasurer by said Borough Clerk and shall by the Treasurer be accounted for in the same manner as other revenues.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance provided an effective date of 1-1-2011.
[Added 12-13-1977 by Ord. No. 773; amended 12-30-1980 by Ord. No. 883; 12-27-1990 by Ord. No. 1190; 11-15-1994 by Ord. No. 1328; 8-28-2007 by Ord. No. 1720]
Owners of dogs who fail to license their dog and who are identified as having an unlicensed dog or dogs at the time of the annual survey or who are identified as such because of a report of an animal bite or because of a complaint or for any other reason shall pay a late fee charge of $10, effective as of March 1. If there are special hardship considerations based on financial, age or health factors that can be documented, the licensing official may grant a written waiver of the fee, specifying the reason for said waiver.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall own, keep or harbor a dog without applying for a license for such dog within 10 days from the date such dog came into his, her or its possession or without delivering such dog within such period to the police or to such person as the Mayor and Council may designate as poundkeeper shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine not exceeding $20 for each dog so owned, kept or harbored without a license.
No person, firm or corporation shall suffer or permit any dog to run at large upon the public streets or in any public park or in any public building or in any other public place within the Borough of Middlesex, nor shall any dog be permitted upon the public streets or in any of the public places within the Borough of Middlesex unless such dog is accompanied by the owner or some other person and is securely controlled by an adequate leash.
[Amended 12-13-1977 by Ord. No. 773]
Any dog found running at large upon the public streets or in any other public place in the Borough of Middlesex shall be impounded and, if not redeemed within seven days after such impounding, shall be destroyed. The owner desiring to redeem a dog impounded, as herein provided, shall pay to the poundkeeper the sum of $7.
[Amended 8-8-1967 by Ord. No. 469]
The Mayor and Council shall fix the compensation of the poundkeeper. The poundkeeper shall perform the duties hereinabove mentioned under the direct supervision and control of the Police Department. He shall provide a place within which he can conveniently dispose and safely, securely and adequately confine such dogs as he is by order of the Police Department directed to capture and impound. He shall release to the owners thereof such dogs impounded as are entitled to be released under the terms and provisions of this article and upon receiving from such owners the sums of money hereinabove specified. All moneys received by him for the release of dogs shall be transferred by him to the Borough Treasurer, with a written report of the source from which such moneys were received.
No person, firm or corporation shall keep within the limits of the Borough of Middlesex any vicious dog or dogs which shall have on more than one occasion attacked and bitten or attempted to bite any human being or any animal. Any vicious dog, hereinbefore defined, found within the limits of the Borough of Middlesex may be killed by any police officer or by any dogcatcher or poundkeeper.
[Amended 8-8-1967 by Ord. No. 469]
No person shall keep within the limits of the Borough of Middlesex any dog causing a nuisance by howling or barking and disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighborhood in which it shall be kept.
[Added 2-8-1966 by Ord. No. 426; amended 10-23-1984 by Ord. No. 1013]
A. 
No person owning or in charge of any dog shall cause or allow such dog to soil, defile, defecate on or commit any nuisance on any common thoroughfare, sidewalk, passageway, bypath, play area, park or any place where people congregate or walk or upon any public property whatsoever or upon any private property, without the permission of the owner of said property.
B. 
Any person owning or in charge of any dog which soils, defiles, defecates on any common thoroughfare, sidewalk, bypath, play area, park or any place where people congregate or walk or upon any public property whatsoever or upon any private property, without the permission of the owner of said property, shall immediately remove all feces deposited by any such dog in a sanitary manner.
C. 
The feces removed from the aforementioned designated areas shall be disposed of by the person owning or in charge of any such dog in a sealed nonabsorbent, leakproof container.
D. 
The provisions of this section shall not apply to blind persons who use dogs as guides.
E. 
Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall be subject to a fine of not more than $50.
The fee for obtaining a license, known as a "kennel license," shall be $10, and such license shall only be issued to a person dealing in, boarding or caring for dogs and shall cover all dogs, not exceeding 10 in number, in his or her custody.
Any person who shall molest or obstruct the poundkeeper, dogcatcher or police officers in carrying out or attempting to carry out the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction, be subject to the penalties hereinafter provided for the violation of the provisions of this article.
[Amended 7-12-1977 by Ord. No. 766; 11-15-1994 by Ord. No. 1328]
Any person who violates or refuses to comply with this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine not exceeding $5 per month per violation. If the violation involves a bite or injury of any type which requires testing of the animal for any purpose, the fine will be a fine not exceeding $300 per violation.