[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee of the Township of Chesterfield 2-27-2020 by Ord. No. 2020-1. Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
CATS
Any member of the domestic feline species, male, female, or altered.
CAT OF LICENSING AGE
Any cat which has attained the age of seven months or which possesses a full set of permanent teeth.
OWNER
When applied to the possession or control of a cat, shall include every person having a right of property in such cat and every person who has such cat in his or her keeping or who harbors or maintains a cat or knowingly permits a cat to remain on or about any premises occupied by that person.
A. 
No person shall own, keep, harbor or maintain any cat over seven months of age within Chesterfield Township unless such cat is vaccinated against rabies and has a current cat license.
B. 
The provisions of this section do not apply to cats held at licensed kennels, qualified farms, or in a veterinary establishment where cats are received or kept for diagnostic, medical, surgical or other treatments.
C. 
Any cat may be exempted from the requirements of such vaccination for a specified period of time upon presentation of a veterinarian's certificate stating that, because of an infirmity or other physical condition or regimen of therapy, the inoculation of such cat shall be deemed inadvisable.
D. 
Any person who shall own, keep or harbor a cat of licensing age shall, in the month of March of each year, apply for and procure from the Township Clerk, or other person designated, a license and official registration tag with license number and shall place upon such cat a collar or other device with the license number securely fastened.
E. 
Any person who shall fail to procure a license for any cat of licensing age by March 31 of each year shall pay a late fee in addition to the license fee in accordance with the fee schedule contained in Chapter 110. Said license and renewal thereof shall expire on the last day of March of each year.
Within the purview of this chapter, a cat shall be considered a public nuisance if it has no known owner or custodian, or if it has no known place of care or shelter, or if it habitually trespasses upon or damages either private or public property, or annoys, bites, scratches or harms lawful users or occupants thereof.
Any person who owns, keeps or harbors any cat at any place within the Township or who permits any cat to enter the limits of the Township shall exercise sufficient and proper care of and control over such animal at all times so as to prevent the same from becoming a public nuisance, as defined in § 105-3.
Except as otherwise provided in N.J.S.A. 4:19-1 et seq., any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of $50 per offense. Any person convicted of violating any provisions of this chapter within one year of the date of a previous violation of this chapter and who has been fined for the previous violation shall be sentenced by the court to an additional fine as a repeat offender. The additional fine imposed by the court upon said person for a repeated offense shall be set by the Municipal Magistrate at a fine between $100 and $200; and for a third offense, the fine shall be between $200 and $500, again subject to the discretion of the Municipal Magistrate. The fine for the first offense may be payable with the submission of a guilty plea through the Violations Bureau and without necessity for a court appearance. Any subsequent violations shall require a court appearance.