For the purposes of this chapter, when not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future tense, words in the plural include the singular, words in the singular include the plural, and the use of any gender shall be applicable to all genders whenever the sense requires. Words not defined in this section shall be given their common and ordinary meaning.
Animal
means any live, vertebrate creature, domestic or wild, including but not limited to dogs, cats, pigs, horses, birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, fowl, and livestock, but specifically excluding human beings.
Animal control authority
means the Collin County animal control authority or another municipal or county animal control office with authority over the area in which an animal is kept or the Collin County sheriff’s office in any area that does not have an animal control office.
Animal control officer
means any person(s) designated by the city council or city manager, through written agreement or otherwise, to enforce the provisions of this chapter and who is authorized to receive reports of animal bites, investigate bite reports, administer euthanasia, ensure quarantine of suspect rabid animals, and otherwise carry out provisions of the ordinances of the city and the laws of the state that relate to animals, including, without limitation, rabies control and eradication.
Animal nuisance
means any animal that physically molests passersby or passing vehicles, attacks other animals or persons, trespasses on school grounds, roams at large, damages public or private property, or creates a noise disturbance in an excessive, continuous or untimely fashion.
Animal registration agency
means any entity requiring registration of any animal including the Collin County animal control authority or another municipal or county animal control office with authority over the area where a dangerous wild animal is kept or the Collin County sheriff’s office in any area that does not have an animal control office.
Animal shelter
means a facility operated by the Collin County animal control authority or the city or its agents or designees for the purpose of impounding or caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter or state or federal laws.
Assistance animal or therapy animal
means an animal that is specially trained or equipped to help a human being who is diagnosed by a licensed physician with a physical challenge or emotional disorder.
At large
means an animal, including fowl or livestock, not in a secure enclosure or not completely confined by a building, wall, pen or fence of sufficient strength of construction to physically restrain the animal on the premises behind the front building line of the owner or custodian; or an animal off the premises of the owner or custodian that is not under the physical restraint of the owner or custodian or any other person authorized by the owner to care for the animal by leash, cord, chain, or rope.
Board
means the appropriate board or council of the department.
Cat
means a domesticated animal that is a member of the feline family; Felis catus.
Commissioner
means the commissioner of the department.
Currently vaccinated
means vaccinated and satisfying the following criteria:
(1) 
The animal must have been at least four months of age at the time of vaccination;
(2) 
At least 30 days have elapsed since the initial vaccination; and
(3) 
No more than 12 months have elapsed since the most recent vaccination.
Custodian
means any person or agency that feeds, shelters, harbors, has possession or control of, or has the responsibility to control an animal.
Dangerous dog
means a dog that:
(1) 
Makes an unprovoked attack on a person that causes bodily injury and occurs in a place other than an enclosure in which the dog was being kept and that was reasonably certain to prevent the dog from leaving the enclosure on its own; or
(2) 
Commits unprovoked acts in a place other than an enclosure in which the dog was being kept and that was reasonably certain to prevent the dog from leaving the enclosure on its own and those acts cause a person to reasonably believe that the dog will attack and cause bodily injury to that person.
Dangerous wild animal
means:
(1) 
A lion;
(2) 
A tiger;
(3) 
An ocelot;
(4) 
A cougar;
(5) 
A leopard;
(6) 
A cheetah;
(7) 
A jaguar;
(8) 
A bobcat;
(9) 
A lynx;
(10) 
A serval;
(11) 
A caracal;
(12) 
A hyena;
(13) 
A bear;
(14) 
A coyote;
(15) 
A jackal;
(16) 
A baboon;
(17) 
A chimpanzee;
(18) 
An orangutan;
(19) 
A gorilla; or
(20) 
Any hybrid of an animal listed in this definition.
Department
means the department of state health services.
Dog
means a domesticated animal that is a member of the canine family; or Canis familiaris.
Domestic,
when referring to an animal, includes all commonly accepted domesticated species of animals adapted to live in intimate association with human beings for the advantage of humans.
Domestic fowl
means birds raised commercially or domestically for meat, eggs, and feathers including chickens, ducks, turkeys, geese, guineas, squabs, and other domestic fowl of the same approximate size and weight.
Euthanize
means ending the life of a suffering, injured, contagious, or sick animal by utilizing a humane, painless method or a method required by any state or federal law, as it currently exists or may be amended.
Harbor
means the act of keeping and caring for an animal or of providing a premises or other location to which the animal returns for food, shelter or care for a period of three consecutive days. This definition excludes the feeding of local or migratory birds (domestic or wild) on public or private property.
Harborer
means a person who harbors an animal.
Impoundment
means the seizing, taking, collecting, confining, or capturing of an animal.
LHA
means local health authority.
Licensed veterinarian
means a person licensed by the state board of veterinary medical examiners to practice veterinary medicine or a person practicing veterinary medicine on an installation of the armed forces or National Guard located in the state.
Livestock
means an animal raised for human consumption or an equine animal, including exotic livestock as defined by section 161.001, Agriculture Code.
(1) 
Large livestock
means horses or any member of the domesticated horse family, including, but not limited to, mules, donkeys and ponies; all types and varieties of cattle; alpacas; and other animals of the same approximate size and weight.
(2) 
Small livestock
means all types of domesticated sheep, lambs, goats, and other animals of the same approximate size and weight.
Low risk animals
means animals that have a low probability of transmitting rabies, including, but not limited to: rats, mice, squirrels, gophers, beavers, prairie dogs, muskrats, nutria, jackrabbits, cottontails, swamp rabbits, opossums, shrews, moles, armadillos, or any animals of the orders Rodentia, Lagomorpha, Didelphimorphia, Insectivora or Xenarthra.
LRCA
means local rabies control authority. Note: The animal control authority shall serve as the LRCA and is authorized to enforce this chapter, receive reports of animal bites/scratches, investigate bite/scratch reports, ensure quarantine of possible rabid animals, ensure quarantine of biting/scratching animals, and otherwise carry out provisions of the Texas Health & Safety Code, chapter 826, as it currently exists or may be amended, to control and eradicate rabies.
One enclosure
means any and all connected buildings, whether under one roof or otherwise, and buildings and sheds that may have entrances to the same or adjoining lot or lots with a gateway or other opening between them.
Owner
means a person who owns or has custody or control of an animal, or any person who owns, harbors, or has custody or control of a dangerous wild animal.
Person
means an individual, partnership, corporation, trust, estate, joint stock company, foundation, or association of individuals.
Pet animal
means and includes domestic dogs, domestic cats, domestic ferrets, rabbits, rodents, birds, reptiles, and any other species of animal that is customarily sold or retained as a household pet, but shall not include swine and wild animals–such as, among others–skunks, squirrels, coyotes, foxes, opossums, bats, non-human primates, and any other species of wild, poisonous or carnivorous animal that may be further restricted in this chapter or regulated by any state or federal law, as it exists or may be amended.
Police dog
means a domestic dog that is owned or employed by a governmental law enforcement agency.
Primary enclosure
means any structure used to immediately restrict an animal to a limited amount of space, including a cage, pen, run, room, compartment, hutch, or structure approved by the LRCA, or his/her designee.
Quarantine
means strict confinement of an animal specified in an order of the board or its designee:
(1) 
On the private premises of the animal owner or at a facility approved by the board or its designee; and
(2) 
Under restraint by closed cage or paddock or in any other manner approved by board rule.
Rabies
means an acute viral disease of man and animal affecting the central nervous system and usually transmitted by an animal bite.
Secure enclosure
means a fenced area or structure that is:
(1) 
Locked;
(2) 
Capable of preventing the entry of the general public, including children;
(3) 
Capable of preventing the escape or release of a dog or any other animal;
(4) 
Clearly marked as containing a dangerous animal; and
(5) 
In conformance with the requirements for enclosures established by the animal control authority.
Serious bodily injury
means an injury characterized by severe bite wounds or severe ripping and tearing of muscle that would cause a reasonably prudent person to seek treatment from a medical professional or would require hospitalization without regard to whether the person actually sought medical treatment.
Stray
means the condition of having no identifiable owner, custodian, or harborer and/or being a public nuisance.
Supervisor of animal control
means the person designated by the city manager or animal control authority to supervise all aspects and operations of the control of animals under this chapter.
Vaccinated
means properly injected with an approved rabies vaccine, licensed for use in that species by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and administered by a licensed veterinarian.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; Ordinance 450-2009 adopted 6/23/09; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 1.01)
(a) 
Enforcement of this chapter shall be the responsibility of animal control and/or other authorized city personnel and/or its authorized agent(s).
(b) 
Animal control officers, code enforcement officers, health inspectors, the LRCA, the LHA, peace officers, and/or other authorized city personnel or the city’s authorized agents shall have the authority to issue citations for any violation of this chapter or remedy violations by limitations set forth by state or federal law.
(c) 
If the person being cited is not present, animal control or other authorized personnel or the city’s authorized agent(s) may send a citation to the alleged offender. Notice may be given in any one of the following ways: (i) sent via registered or certified mail addressed to the owner at the owner’s address, or (ii) by hand delivery to the owner at the owner’s address. If the city or its authorized agent(s) mails a citation to the owner and the United States Postal Service returns the notice as “refused” or “unclaimed,” or if the address that was used for sending the citation is returned as “not deliverable as addressed” (or an equivalent marking), the validity of the citation mailed to the owner is not affected, and the citation is considered to be delivered.
(d) 
It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with animal control or any authorized person, or any authorized agent, in the performance of their duties under this chapter.
(e) 
Animal control, the city police, the LRCA, the LHA, or other authorized personnel and/or the city’s authorized agents are given the right to trespass onto any private property in the city in exigent circumstances for the purpose of determining whether or not any provision of this chapter has been violated and to impound any animal kept or harbored in violation of any terms of this chapter.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 12)
Any owner, custodian, person, firm, corporation or business entity violating this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined a sum in accordance with the general penalty provided in section 1.01.009 of this code. Each continuing day’s violation under this chapter shall constitute a separate offense. While penal in nature, this chapter shall not preclude the city from filing suit to enjoin a violation. The city retains all legal rights and remedies available to it pursuant to local, state and federal law.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 13; Ordinance adopting 2019 Code)
(a) 
Prohibition.
It shall be unlawful for any owner, custodian, or harborer to allow any domestic dog or other animal possessed, kept, or harbored, to roam at large as defined in this chapter, and:
(1) 
Every dog or cat must be restrained by its owner;
(2) 
Every stray dog or cat is declared a public nuisance;
(3) 
Every stray dog or cat shall be detained or impounded by the LRCA or that officer’s designee; and
(4) 
A humane disposition must be made of each unclaimed stray dog or cat on the expiration of the required impoundment period.
(b) 
Authority of animal control officer.
Animal control officers are authorized to pursue onto private and public property and impound animals that roam at large. Animal control officers may impound animals at large under conditions specified in this chapter, or when the animal control officer has received a complaint that an animal has caused a nuisance or hazard to the health, safety or welfare of human beings or the animal population.
(c) 
Penalty.
(1) 
A person commits an offense if:
(A) 
The person fails or refuses to restrain a dog or cat owned by the person; and
(B) 
The animal is required to be restrained under this chapter by a county or municipality within whose jurisdiction the act occurs.
(2) 
An offense under this section is a class C misdemeanor.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 1.04)
The following are determined to be unlawful public nuisances and are prohibited both within the city’s corporate limits and within 5,000 feet outside of the city’s corporate limits:
(1) 
The keeping of any animal that physically molests passersby or passing vehicles, attacks other animals, is not accompanied by a responsible person who maintains physical control over the animal by leash, cord, rope or other physical restraint device, trespasses on school grounds, and/or damages public or private property;
(2) 
The keeping of bees in such a manner as to deny the lawful use of adjacent property or endanger personal health, safety and welfare;
(3) 
Laxness in supervision of cats;
(4) 
The keeping of any animal(s) that causes frequent, excessive or long continuous barking, whining, crying, meowing, howling, or other animal-related noise that interferes with public peace and comfort;
(5) 
Maintaining any animal in such a manner or allowing any pen, enclosure, yard or similar place used for the keeping of animals to become:
(A) 
Unsanitary;
(B) 
Offensive by reason of odor;
(C) 
Offensive by lack of maintenance or creates a visual nuisance;
(D) 
Favorable for any zoonotic diseases or any other diseases; or
(E) 
A breeding place for fleas, ticks or other vectors;
(6) 
Allowing excreta deposited by an animal to remain on public or private property or allowing any condition injurious to public health caused by the lack of or improper disposal of animal waste. (Public property includes, but is not limited to, walks, sidewalks, streets, alleys, parks, or recreation areas.)
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 1.05)
From and after the effective date of this chapter, it shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to keep or harbor more than six domestic dogs, or six domestic cats, or three domestic ferrets, or any combination of six thereof, providing the number of domestic ferrets does not exceed three of that species (i.e., five domestic dogs and one domestic cat; one domestic dog and five domestic cats; three domestic dogs, two domestic cats and one domestic ferret) over the age of six months on any one residential dwelling property located within the city limits.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 5)
(a) 
Baby fowl.
It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale, barter, or give away as toys, premiums, or novelties: baby chickens, ducklings, or other fowl under eight weeks old. Sale of such animals for agricultural purposes is exempt from this provision if sold in quantities of ten or more.
(b) 
Change of color of certain animals.
It shall be unlawful to color, dye, stain, or otherwise change the natural color of chickens, ducklings, other fowl, or rabbits, or to possess for the purpose of sale or to be given away, any of the above-mentioned animals which have been so colored.
(c) 
Animals as prizes or inducements.
No person shall give away any animal as:
(1) 
A prize or use as an inducement to enter any contest, game or competition;
(2) 
An inducement to enter a place of amusement or other nonresidential establishment; or
(3) 
An offer or as an incentive to enter into any business establishment whereby the offer was for the purpose of attracting trade.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 7)
The following are established as guidelines for pet and animal care and not intended to contravene with the provisions for animal cruelty as contained in the Texas Penal Code sections 42.09 through 42.092, as it currently exists or may be amended.
(1) 
Every owner or other person having care and control of any animal shall provide the following for each animal under his/her care and control:
(A) 
Sufficient nutritious and wholesome food, served to the animal in clean containers, to maintain the animal in good health;
(B) 
Clean and wholesome water, served to the animal in a clean container, such water to be available to the animal at all times;
(C) 
Adequate shelter, which shall allow the animal to remain dry and protected from the elements at all times, allow room for the animal to stand, move around and lay down apart from its excrement and that shall provide either natural or artificial shade for the animal to avoid direct sunlight. If the shelter is provided by enclosure, the enclosure shall allow for adequate ventilation; and
(D) 
Veterinary care as needed to prevent suffering.
(2) 
No person shall torture, beat, cruelly ill-treat, overload, overwork or otherwise abuse an animal, or cause, instigate, or permit any dogfight, cockfight, bullfight, or other combat between animals or between animals and human beings.
(3) 
No owner of an animal shall abandon such animal.
(4) 
Any person who, as the operator of a motor vehicle or any other means of transportation, strikes any domestic animal or livestock shall stop at once and render assistance as may be possible and shall immediately report such injury or death to the animal’s owner. In the event the animal’s owner cannot be ascertained and/or located, such person shall at once report the accident to animal control or the appropriate law enforcement agency.
(5) 
No person shall intentionally or knowingly trip or tip over a horse or other equine or bovine.
(6) 
No owner, custodian or person shall leave any animal in a standing or parked vehicle in such a way as to endanger the animal’s health, safety or welfare, including but not limited to dangerous temperature, lack of food, water or attention, or confinement with a dangerous animal. Any animal control officer, peace officer, fire personnel or other city-authorized person is authorized to use reasonable force to remove an animal–including but not limited to–the breaking of a vehicle window, whenever it appears the animal’s health, safety or welfare is, or soon will be, endangered, and said animal may be impounded.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 8)
(a) 
The owner, custodian or person in possession of animals shall keep pens, enclosures, yards, cages, structures, or other similar enclosures in which any animals are kept, clean and sanitary and shall not create:
(1) 
Any offensive odors or visual nuisances (unsightly) within the vicinity that create a public nuisance;
(2) 
Any favorable conditions that breed or attract flies, mosquitoes or other noxious insects;
(3) 
Any favorable conditions for any zoonotic diseases or any other diseases; or
(4) 
Any unsanitary condition that endangers public or animal health or safety.
(b) 
All persons keeping animals shall comply with the following regulations.
(1) 
Manure and droppings shall be removed from pens, stables, yards, cages and other enclosures as necessary to maintain sanitary conditions and handled or properly disposed of in such manner as to keep the premises free of any public nuisances.
(2) 
Mound storage of manure or droppings between such removals shall be permitted only under such conditions as to protect against the breeding of flies and to prevent the migration of fly larvae (maggots) into the surrounding soil.
(3) 
The feeding of vegetables, meat scraps or garbage shall be done only in impervious containers or on an impervious platform.
(4) 
Watering troughs, tanks or other watering containers provided for animals shall be equipped with adequate facilities for draining water overflow to prevent the breeding of flies, mosquitoes, or other insects.
(5) 
No putrescible material shall be allowed to accumulate on the premises, and all such putrescible material that is used to feed that is unconsumed shall be removed and properly disposed of by burial or other sanitary means.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 9)
(a) 
Only humane live animal traps may be used for capturing animals roaming unrestrained in the city. The use of steel jaw traps to apprehend animals is illegal. As an exception to this section, government agencies and entities shall be permitted to use such traps and equipment as necessary and permitted by state law or regulation, as they exist or may be amended.
(b) 
No person shall remove, alter, damage or otherwise tamper with a trap or equipment set out by animal control or the city’s agent(s).
(c) 
The animal control traps left at a site at the request of a property owner or other resident will be the responsibility of the property owner or resident. The property owner or resident will monitor the trap(s) each day and contact animal control if any animal(s) is captured. The property owner or resident will contact animal control within 24 hours in the event of an animal capture for removal by an animal control officer.
(d) 
Damaged traps or missing traps will be reimbursed to the city, or its agents, for replacement of the trap(s). Citizens with traps provided by animal control shall not set the trap on any evenings prior to a holiday (New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and the day after, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) or on a Saturday, as the animal control officers will only be running emergency calls on those days as well as on Sundays. During inclement weather conditions (i.e., temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, rain/snow, or excessive heat), cover traps [sic] must be covered with a blanket, placed in the shade, placed in an enclosure, or otherwise arranged to mitigate the effect of the weather on the animal.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 10)
Upon request of an animal control officer, the owner or user of an assistance animal or therapy animal shall provide written proof signed by a licensed physician that removal of the animal would be detrimental to the person who requires the animal for assistance.
(Ordinance 369-2008 adopted 3/11/08; 2008 Code, pt. II, art. 4, sec. 11)