[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township
of Mount Pleasant as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
[Adopted 2-12-1968 by Ord. No. 26]
This article shall be known and may be cited as "An ordinance
prohibiting owners, custodians and keepers of dogs from allowing such
dogs to run at large in the Township of Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland
County, Pennsylvania; providing for the seizure and impounding of
such dogs when at large; requiring the reimbursement of charges incurred
by reason of such detention of dogs; and prescribing penalty for violation."
For the purpose of this article, the following terms shall have
the following meanings, respectively, for each:
Any person employed or designated by the Township of Mount
Pleasant whose duty is to enforce this article and to bring prosecution
of the same before a Magisterial District Judge in the same manner
provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania
Rules of Criminal Procedure.
[Amended 6-16-1997 by Ord. No. 118[1]]
Any establishment wherein dogs are kept for the purpose of
breeding, boarding, sale or show purposes and which is so constructed
that dogs cannot stray therefrom.
When applied to the proprietorship of a dog, shall include
every person having a right of property in such dog, and every person
who keeps or harbors such dog or has it in his care, and every person
who permits such dog to remain on or about any premises occupied by
him.
Immediately upon the enactment of this article and its effective
date, the Mount Pleasant Township Supervisors will appoint and empower
a person to be known as the Township's "Dog Enforcement Officer,"
who will be fully and completely authorized under the provisions of
this article to enforce the same to its fullest extent. The appointment
of a Dog Enforcement Officer in no way limits the responsibility of
other enforcement officers to detain dogs in accordance with the article
or the present statute in effect and is to merely complement the present
laws in effect regarding dogs at large.
[Amended 6-16-1997 by Ord. No. 118]
It shall be the duty of the Mount Pleasant Township Dog Enforcement
Officer to:
A.
Seize and detain any dog which is found running at large, either
upon the public streets or the highways of the Township of Mount Pleasant
or upon the property of a person other than the owner of such dog,
and unaccompanied by the owner or keeper. The Dog Enforcement Officer
may humanely kill any dog which is found running at large and is deemed,
after due consideration by the Dog Enforcement Officer, to constitute
a threat to the public health and welfare.
B.
The Dog Enforcement Officer shall cause any dog bearing a proper
license tag or permanent identification and so seized and detained
to be properly kept and fed at any licensed kennel approved by the
Secretary of Agriculture of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for such
purposes and shall cause immediate notice, by personal service or
registered or certified mail with return receipt requested to the
last known address, which shall be set forth in the license application
record, of the person in whose name the license was procured or his
agent to claim such dog within five days after receipt thereof. The
owner or claimant of a dog so detained shall pay a penalty of $50
to the political subdivision whose Dog Enforcement Officer makes such
seizure and detention and all reasonable expenses incurred by reason
of its detention to the detaining party before the dog is returned.
If, five days after obtaining the postal return receipt, such dog
has not been claimed, such Dog Enforcement Officer shall dispense
such dog by sale or by giving it to a humane society or an association
for the prevention of cruelty to animals. No dog so caught and detained
shall be sold for the purpose of vivisection or research or be conveyed
in any manner for these purposes. All monies derived from the sale
of such dog, after deducting the expenses of his detention, shall
be paid to the treasury of the Township of Mount Pleasant.[1]
C.
The Dog Enforcement Officer shall cause any unlicensed dog to be
seized, detained, kept and fed for a period of 48 hours at any licensed
kennel approved by the Secretary of Agricultural for such purposes,
except any dog seriously ill, injured or forfeited with the owner's
permission. The forty-eight-hour period shall not include days the
approved kennel is not open to the general public. Any person may
view such detained dogs during normal business hours. Any unlicensed
dog remaining unclaimed after 48 hours should be humanely killed or
given to a human society or association for the prevention of cruelty
to animals. No dog so caught and detained shall be sold for the purpose
of vivisection or research or be conveyed in any manner for these
purposes.[2]
