[Adopted 3-21-1994 by Ord. No. 527-94]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
ABANDONED CAT
A cat of any age which is left unattended and at large for a period of 72 hours or more.
ANIMAL CONTROL AUTHORITY
Any person or agency certified by the State of New Jersey and designated by the Township of Mine Hill to enforce the provisions of this article.
CAT
Any member of the feline species regardless of age or sex.
CAT OF LICENSING AGE
Any cat which has attained the age of seven months or which possesses a set of permanent teeth.
CATTERY
Any room or group of rooms, cage or exhibition pen, not a part of a kennel, wherein cats for sale are kept or displayed.
LICENSING AUTHORITY
The Township Clerk or other official designated by the Township Council to administer the issuance of licenses under the provisions of this article.
NEUTERED
Rendered permanently incapable of reproduction as certified by a licensed veterinarian.
OWNER
When applied to the proprietorship of a cat, includes any person or business establishment having a right of property in, or custody of, such cat and any person or business establishment having such a cat in his/her/its keeping or harboring or maintaining a cat or knowingly permitting a cat to remain on or about any property occupied by that person or business establishment. Any person or business establishment that regularly feeds, shelters, or cares for a cat shall be deemed the owner of that cat.
[Added 12-5-2002 by Ord. No. 14-02]
PUBLIC NUISANCE
Any cat causing the destruction of private or public property, or injury to a person or to another domestic animal, creating a threat to public health, safety, or welfare, causing damage to or defecating on any lawn, shrubbery, flowers, grounds, trees, or otherwise interfering with the enjoyment of property shall be declared a public nuisance.
[Amended 12-5-2002 by Ord. No. 14-02]
STRAY CAT
A cat having no known owner, custodian, identification or known place of care or shelter.
No person shall own, keep, harbor or maintain any cat over seven months of age within the Township of Mine Hill unless such cat is vaccinated and licensed. The provisions of this section do not apply to cats held in a cattery, or those held by state or federally licensed research facilities 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.
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 in § 145-20.
Any cat may be exempted from the requirements of such vaccination for a specified period of time by the Animal Control Authority, upon presentation of a veterinarian's certificate stating that because of an infirmity or other physical condition, or regiment 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 obtained possession of such cat, and annually thereafter, in the month of February, apply for and procure from the office of the Municipal 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 February and each succeeding year thereafter. Any person who owns, keeps or harbors a cat shall place upon each cat a collar with the registration tag securely fastened onto it.
B. 
Cats brought into jurisdiction. Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought into the Township of Mine Hill 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 Mine Hill for a period of more than 90 days shall immediately apply for a license and registration tag for each such cat.
C. 
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought in the Township of Mine Hill any unlicensed cat and shall keep same or permit same to be kept within the Township of Mine Hill for a period of more than 10 days shall immediately apply for a license and registration tag for each such cat.
D. 
License form and tags. License forms and official tags or sleeves shall be furnished by the Township and shall be numbered serially and shall bear the year of issuance and the name of the Township.
E. 
Evidence of inoculation with rabies vaccine or certification of exemption; requirement for license. No official designated by the Township Council of the Township of Mine Hill to license cats therein shall grant any such license and official registration tag or sleeve for any cat, unless the owner thereof provides evidence that the cat to be licensed and registered has been inoculated with 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 in § 145-20 of this article. The rabies inoculation shall be administered by a duly licensed veterinarian, or by such other veterinarians permitted by law to do the same.
A. 
No person, except an officer 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.
B. 
No licensed cat shall be allowed off the premises of the person harboring or keeping the cat without the metal registration tag attached to its collar.
A. 
A license and registration tag shall be issued after payment of a fee as set forth in Chapter 235, Fees, for each neutered/spayed cat for the first year and every year thereafter. A surcharge as set forth in Chapter 235, Fees, will be imposed on any license and registration tag for each cat for which proof of spaying/neutering cannot be provided. A late charge as set forth in Chapter 235, Fees, shall be assessed for the issuance of a license and registration tag after the last day of February, the month that the tag expired.
[Amended 9-15-2011 by Ord. No. 10-11[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II).
B. 
Fees; renewals; expiration date of license. The person applying for the license and registration tag and/or sleeve shall pay the fee fixed or authorized. The fee for the renewal of license and registration tag or sleeve shall be the same as for the original, and said license registration tag or sleeve and renewal thereof shall expire on the last day of February in each year.
A. 
The application shall state the breed, sex, age, color and markings of the cat for which license and registration are sought and the name, street and post office address of the owner and the person who shall keep or harbor such cat.
B. 
The information on said application and the registration number issued for the cat shall be preserved for a period of three years by the Township Clerk or other official designated by the Township Council. Registration numbers shall be issued in order of the applications.
Proof of licensing shall be produced by any person owning, keeping, maintaining or harboring a cat, upon request of any health official or other authorized person.
License fees and other monies collected or received under the provisions of this article as they pertain to cat licensing shall be forwarded to the Municipal Finance Officer of the Township of Mine Hill and shall be placed in the current fund.