[Amended 3-26-1990 by Ord. No. 90-5]
For purposes of this Article, the following words and phrases have the
meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section:
Any member of the domestic feline species; male, female or altered.
Any cat which has attained the age of seven months or which possesses
a set of permanent teeth.
When applied to the proprietorship of a cat, includes every person
having a right of property in such cat and every person who has such cat in
his keeping or who harbors or maintains a cat or knowingly permits a cat to
remain on or about any premises occupied by that person.
No person shall own, keep or harbor any cat within the borough without
registering and obtaining a license therefor, to be issued by the Borough
Clerk upon application by the owner and payment of the prescribed fee. No
person shall own, keep or harbor any cat in the borough except in compliance
with the provisions of this Article.
The application shall state the breed, sex, age, color and marking 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 body 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 application.
Any person who owns, keeps or harbors a cat of licensing age shall,
annually in the month of January, apply for and procure from the Clerk a license
and official registration tag for each such cat so owned, kept or harbored.
Such person shall place upon each such cat a collar or other device with the
license number securely fastened or displayed thereto.
A.
No cat license required by this Article to be obtained
from the Borough Clerk shall be issued for any cat unless and until the person
making application for such license shall present to the Borough Clerk with
the application, as required by § 133-22, a certificate issued by
a duly licensed veterinarian of the state, attesting that such cat 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.
B.
Any cat may be exempt from the requirement for vaccination
for a specified period of time upon presentation of a certificate from a licensed
veterinarian of the state, stating that by reason of age, infirmity or other
physical condition, the vaccination of such cat for such specified period
of time is contraindicated.
The license, registration tags and renewals thereof shall expire on
the last day of January of the following year.
A.
Any person who brings or causes to be brought into the
Borough any cat licensed in another state for the current year and bearing
a registration tag and who keeps the cat or permits it to be kept within the
Borough or within the Borough and within any other municipality of the state
for a period of more than 90 days shall immediately apply for a license and
registration tag for such cat. This subsection shall not be applicable if
such cat has been licensed for the current year in another municipality for
this state.
B.
Any person who brings or causes to be brought into the
Borough any unlicensed cat and keeps the cat or permits it to be kept within
the Borough for a period of more than 10 days shall immediately apply for
a license and registration tag for such cat.
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 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 §§ 133-29 and 133-30:
A.
Any cat off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring the cat, which the Animal Control Officer or his assistant
or assistants have reason to believe is a stray cat.
B.
Any cat without a current registration tag on his collar,
or any cat which the Animal Control Officer has reason to believe is diseased.
A.
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 Animal Control Officer or any person authorized by him in that behalf
may return the cat to the owner, and if not, he shall forthwith serve upon
the person whose address is given on the collar or the person whose name is
registered as the owner or upon 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.
B.
A notice under this section may be served by delivering
it to the person upon 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 in the collar.
For every cat impounded, there shall be detention expense charged in
the amount of $3, which shall include maintenance for the first calendar day.
Thereafter there shall be a maintenance charge for each cat so seized at the
rate of $1 per day. When any cat so seized has been detained seven days after
notice or has been detained for seven days after seizure, when notice has
not been given and cannot be given as set forth in § 133-29, 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 such cat, the Animal Control Officer may cause the
cat to be destroyed in manner causing as little pain as possible or dispose
of the cat by placement with some reasonable person desiring such cat or otherwise.
No person shall abandon any cat, no matter what its age may be, within
the borough.
A.
Owners of cats presently licensed by the Borough of New
Providence for the year 1990 shall, on or before June 30, 1990, furnish to
the Clerk of the Borough of New Providence the inoculation certificate provided
for pursuant to § 133-24 of this Article.
B.
The Borough Clerk shall direct written notice to all
owners of cats presently licensed in the Borough of New Providence informing
them of the provisions of this Article.
