As used in this chapter the following terms mean:
ANIMAL SHELTER
Any premises designated by the Town Council for the purpose of impounding and caring for all animals found at large in violation of this chapter.
AT LARGE
Any animal shall be deemed to be at large when he is not contained on the property of his owner and not under restraint as hereinafter defined.
EXPOSED TO RABIES
An animal has been exposed to rabies within the meaning of this chapter if it has been bitten by or been exposed to any animal known to have been infected with rabies.
OWNER or CUSTODIAN
Any person, firm, group of persons or corporation owning, keeping, having possession and control of, or harboring a dog or other animal.
RESTRAINT
Any dog or animal is under restraint within the meaning of this chapter if he is under the control of a leash of reasonable length not to exceed 20 feet or within the property of his owner or custodian, or inside a vehicle being driven or parked on the street.
SPAYED FEMALE
Any female dog which has had an ovarian hysterectomy.
A. 
Any dog or animal found to be in violation of this chapter shall be impounded by the Animal Control Officer and impounded in the shelter designated as the Town dog pound. Dogs or animals not claimed by their owners before the expiration of seven days may be disposed of at the discretion of the Animal Control Officer, except as hereinafter provided in the cases of certain dogs.
B. 
The Animal Control Officer may transfer title to any dog or animal held at the animal shelter to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and/or the Animal Rescue League after the legal detention period has expired and such dog has not been claimed by its owner.
C. 
Immediately upon impounding any animal or dog, the Animal Control Officer shall make every possible reasonable effort to notify the owners of such animal so impounded and inform such owners of the conditions whereby they may regain custody of such animal.
D. 
Any dog or animal found at large within the Town limits may be impounded or disposed of according to law when such action is required to protect the dog or animal or to protect the residents of the Town.
A. 
The owner shall be entitled to regain possession of any impounded dog or animal, except as hereinafter provided in the cases of certain dogs or animals, upon the payment of fees set forth herein. (Proof of ownership might include a license receipt, affidavits of neighbors, a photograph, etc.)
B. 
Any animal impounded under the provisions of this chapter and not reclaimed by its owner within seven days may be humanely destroyed by the Animal Control Officer, have its title transferred to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and/or the Animal Rescue League or placed in the custody of some person deemed to be a responsible and suitable owner, who will agree to comply with the provisions of this chapter and such other regulations as shall be fixed by the Town of North Smithfield; provided, however, that if the animal is one as to which the respective rights of the owner and the person in possession or custody are determined by state law, such law shall be complied with. Under no circumstances shall the ownership of any dog be transferred to a vivisection association.
A. 
The owner shall confine within a building or secure enclosure every fierce, dangerous, or vicious dog or animal, and not take such dog or animal out of such building or secure enclosure unless such dog or animal is securely muzzled.
B. 
Every female dog in heat shall be kept confined in a building or secure enclosure, or in a veterinary hospital or boarding kennel, in such a manner that such female dog or other animals cannot come in contact with another dog or animal except for intentional breeding purposes.
C. 
Any dog described in the foregoing subsections of this section found at large shall be impounded by the Animal Control Officer and may not be reclaimed by owners unless such reclamation be authorized by any court having competent jurisdiction.
D. 
Any dog may, the first time it is impounded for being a public nuisance, be reclaimed as provided in § 123-18A hereof, but may not be reclaimed when so impounded on a second or subsequent occasion unless such reclamation is authorized by any court having competent jurisdiction in the matter.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
A. 
Every dog which bites a person shall be promptly reported to the Animal Control Officer and shall thereupon be securely quarantined at the direction of the Animal Control Officer for a period of 10 days and shall not be released from such quarantine except by written permission of the Animal Control Officer. At the discretion of the Animal Control Officer, such quarantine may be on the premises of the owner, at the shelter designated by the Animal Control Officer, or, at the owner's option and expense, in a veterinary hospital of his choice. In the case of stray animals, or in the cases of animals whose ownership is not known, such quarantine shall be at the shelter designated by the Animal Control Officer. All quarantines at the animal shelter shall be subject to a charge set from time to time by the Town Council, plus any other expenses or fees that may apply.
B. 
The owner, upon demand by the Animal Control Officer, shall forthwith surrender any animal which has bitten a human or which is suspected as having been exposed to rabies for supervised quarantine, the expense of which shall be borne by the owner. Said animal may be reclaimed by the owner if it is adjudged free of rabies, upon payment of fees set forth in § 123-13 of this chapter, plus any other applicable fees for pickup or impoundment.
C. 
When rabies has been diagnosed in an animal under quarantine or rabies is suspected by a licensed veterinarian and the animal dies while under such observation, the Animal Control Officer shall immediately send the head of such animal to the State Health Department for pathological examination, and shall notify the proper public health office of reports of human contacts and the diagnosis.
D. 
When one or both reports indicate a positive diagnosis of rabies, the Animal Control Officer shall recommend an area-wide quarantine for a period of 90 days, and upon invoking of such emergency quarantine, no animal shall be taken into the streets or permitted to be in the streets during such period of quarantine. During such quarantine, no animal may be taken or shipped from the Town without written permission of the Animal Control Officer. During this quarantine period and as long afterward as he decides it is necessary to prevent the spread of rabies, the State Health Officer shall require all dogs three months of age and older to be vaccinated against rabies with a canine rabies vaccine approved by the Biological Control Program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The types of approved canine anti-rabies vaccine to be used and the recognized duration of immunity for each shall be established by the State Health Officer. All vaccinated dogs shall be restricted (by leashing or confinement on enclosed premises) for 30 days after vaccination. During the quarantine period, the State Health Officer shall be empowered to provide for a program of mass immunization by the establishment of temporary emergency canine rabies vaccination clinics strategically located throughout the Town. No dog which has been impounded by reason of its being a stray, unclaimed by its owner, is allowed to be claimed during the period of the rabies emergency quarantine, except by special authorization of the State Health Officer and the Animal Control Officer.
E. 
Dogs or animals bitten by a known rabid animal shall be immediately destroyed, or if the owner is unwilling to destroy the exposed animal, strict isolation of the bitten animal in a kennel for six months shall be enforced. If the dog or animal has been previously vaccinated within time limits established by the State Health Officer based on the kind of vaccine used, revaccination and restraint (by leashing and confinement for 30 days) shall be carried-out.
F. 
In the event there are additional positive cases of rabies during the period of the quarantine, such period of quarantine may be extended for an additional six months.
G. 
No person shall kill, or cause to be killed, any rabid animal, any animal suspected of having been exposed to rabies, or any animal biting a human, except as herein provided, nor remove from the Town limits without written permission from the Animal Control Officer.
H. 
The carcass of any dead animal exposed to rabies shall upon demand be surrendered to the Animal Control Officer.
I. 
The Animal Control Officer shall direct the disposition of any animal found to be infected with rabies.
J. 
No person shall fail or refuse to surrender any animal for quarantine or destruction as required herein when demand is made therefore by the Animal Control Officer.
It shall be the duty of every physician or other medical practitioner to report to the Animal Control Officer or the Police Department the names and addresses of persons treated for bites inflicted by animals, together with such other information as will be helpful in rabies control.
No dog over six months old shall be permitted within the Town limits unless such dog shall have been vaccinated or immunized in the manner set forth in this chapter within the preceding period of 12 months if such dog shall have been vaccinated or immunized with the one-year vaccine, or within a period of 36 months if such dog shall have been vaccinated or immunized by the three-year vaccine.
The vaccination or immunization referred to in § 123-23 of this chapter shall be by a vaccine approved by the State Department of Health and shall be certified to by a licensed veterinarian. Such certificate shall be dated as of the date of inoculation or vaccination, shall show the rabies tag number, the sex and breed of dog and the owner thereof, and whether the vaccine given is the one-year vaccine or the three-year vaccine, together with such other information as may be reasonably required by the health officer or the veterinarian administering the same.
A. 
No license shall be issued for any dog required to be licensed in the Town unless the person making application therefore shall first present to the Town Clerk's office a current certificate of vaccination or inoculation, as provided in this chapter, for the dog for which such license is requested. Such certificate shall certify that the dog for which the license is to be issued has been properly vaccinated or inoculated in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.
B. 
Public clinics for inoculations will be scheduled on a yearly basis by the Director of Public Safety.
A. 
All dogs are to be licensed by April 30 of each year. A fine of $5 shall be charged for late registration.
B. 
Any dog which has been used for purposes of hunting and becomes separated from the owner or person in charge of said dog while directly engaged in said hunt or returning from said hunt shall be exempt, provided that:
(1) 
Said dog was properly licensed prior to the hunt.
(2) 
The hunter reports that said dog is missing to the Animal Control Officer within 24 hours after the hunt is terminated.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
(3) 
The missing dog is recovered within 48 hours after the hunt is terminated.
A. 
Where the keeping of chicken hens is permitted by Chapter 340, Zoning, of the Town Code (see Attachment 2, District Use Regulations Table), the owner of any house lot containing at least one dwelling may keep or permit to be kept on the house lot no more than 12 chicken hens.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III)]
B. 
Subsection 123-27A of this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the raising and/or keeping of roosters.
C. 
All chicken hens must be provided with both a henhouse (coop) and a fenced outdoor enclosure, subject to the following provisions:
(1) 
The henhouse must be covered, predator-resistant and well-ventilated. It shall be no more than eight feet in height and a maximum of 64 square feet in area;
(2) 
The fence, made of chicken wire or a stronger substance, shall be no more than six feet in height;
(3) 
The henhouse must provide a minimum of two square feet per chicken hen;
(4) 
The henhouse must be kept clean, dry, and sanitary at all times;
(5) 
The henhouse must be located upon a permeable surface that prevents waste runoff;
(6) 
The fenced enclosure must adequately contain the chicken hens at all times;
(7) 
The fenced enclosure must be kept clean and sanitary at all times;
(8) 
The henhouse must provide the chicken hens with adequate protection from the elements and inclement weather and provide for the chicken hens good health and prevent any unnecessary or unjustified suffering;
(9) 
The henhouse shall not be built onto any shared fence;
(10) 
The setbacks for the henhouse and enclosed area shall be those for the principal dwelling located on the house lot.
D. 
No chicken hens may be kept or raised within the dwelling.
E. 
The owner of the hen(s) must be a resident of the dwelling located on the house lot.
F. 
The raising of chicken hens shall be restricted to backyards; chicken hens shall not be permitted, at any time, on the part of the property directly abutting a main road.
G. 
The keeping of chicken hens pursuant to this section shall be primarily for the purpose of raising chicken hens and collecting the eggs produced thereof; this section shall not be construed to allow for the commercial slaughter and sale of any chicken hens for any purpose.
H. 
This section shall be subject to the nuisance provisions of § 123-6.
I. 
The Town Administrator, on the advice of the Animal Control Officer, shall promulgate a registration process as a condition precedent to the construction of henhouses and keeping of chicken hens. Such registration shall include:
(1) 
Inspection and approval of the construction plans by the Building/Zoning Official.
(2) 
Inspection and approval of sanitary conditions by the Animal Control Officer upon receipt of a complaint.
J. 
Violation of sanitary cleanliness and sanitary requirements.
(1) 
Fines. Any violation of this section shall be subject to a fine of $30 for the first offense, $50 for the second offense, $75 for the third offense and $100 for each subsequent offense.