The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the content clearly indicates a different meaning:
Leaving an animal in any place without providing reasonable and necessary care, including, but not limited to, air, food, water, or protection from heat, cold, or other elements of nature.
Any living creature, including but not limited to dogs, cats, pigs, cows, horses, mammals, reptiles, fowl and livestock, but specifically excluding human beings.
The division of the city responsible for the enforcement of state laws and local ordinances pertaining to animals which serves as a contact point for the public with regard to animal problems and issues.
Any person designated by the chief of police to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
The person designated to supervise all aspects of animal control or his or her authorized representative or designee.
A facility operated by the city for the purpose of impounding and caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter.
A hive and its equipment and appurtenances including bees, comb, honey, pollen and brood.
Any animal which, without provocation, inflicts bites on or attacks a human being or domesticated animal on either public or private property;
Any animal which, in a vicious or terrorizing manner, approaches a human being in an apparent attitude of attack upon the streets, sidewalks, or any public or private grounds or places;
Any animal with a known propensity, tendency or disposition to attack without provocation, which causes injury or otherwise threatens or endangers the safety of a human being or a domesticated animal;
Any animal suspected of being a dangerous animal if the owner, keeper or harborer of such animal fails to refuses to make such animal available for inspection to an animal control officer;
Any animal owned or harbored primarily or in part for the purpose of fighting, or any animal trained for fighting; or
Any animal which has behaved in such a manner that the owner thereof knows or should reasonably know that the animal is possessed of tendencies to attack or to bite human beings or domesticated animals.
Any one, or a combination, of the animal behaviors of biting, snarling, charging aggressively toward a person or another animal, growling with curled lips, popping of teeth, or barking with raised hackles.
A domesticated member of the family Canidae, but shall not include a wolf, jackal, coyote, fox, or other wild animal of this family or hybrid thereof.
Includes livestock, caged or penned fowl other than animals belonging to the class Aves, order Falconiforms and subdivision Raptae, normal household pets such as but not limited to dogs, cats, cockatiels, ferrets, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, rabbits, fish, or small nonpoisonous reptiles or nonpoisonous snakes.
Non-native species of animal, including, but not limited to, nonpoisonous reptiles which when mature are over six feet in length, ostriches, any member of the Ratite family or exotic livestock as defined by the state animal health commission.
A person who volunteers to provide and does provide temporary care for an animal for a period of time until a permanent home can be found for the animal.
All of those birds commonly called poultry, including, but not limited to, chickens, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, turkeys, pigeons and all the relatives of those birds which can be in pens, coops, cages or enclosures of any kind.
The act of keeping and caring for an animal or of providing premises to which the animal returns for food, shelter or care for a period of five days.
A structure intended for the housing of a bee colony.
A box cage for catching animals in a humane manner.
To cause the death of an animal by a method which:
An electronic device or other similar device, whether with a cord or wireless, utilized to restrain an animal upon property.
Horses, mules, donkeys, cattle, goats, sheep and swine regardless of age, sex, size or breed, but does not include the pot-bellied pig, miniature horse, or pygmy goat.
Swine or goats that have been specifically bred to be significantly smaller at maturity than all other breeds of similar animals. Miniature livestock includes, but is not limited to, pot-bellied pigs, pygmy goats and miniature horses.
Any person, partnership, corporation, association or legal entity that harbors, shelters, keeps, controls, manages, possesses or has whole or part interest in any animal. The occupant, owner or head of household of any premises where an animal remains for seventy-two (72) hours or more shall be reputably presumed to be the owner of the animal, unless the animal has been reported to animal control as a stray animal. An occupant of any premises on which a domestic animal remains or customarily returns to is an owner for purposes of this chapter. If a person under the age of seventeen (17) years owns an animal the parent, legal guardian, or the head of household shall be the owner for purposes of this chapter. There may be more than one (1) person responsible for an animal. This term shall include persons who are in temporary possession of the animal, including but not limited to petsitters and trainers.
Any individual, firm, association, partnership, or corporation.
Dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, rodents, birds, reptiles and any other species of animal that are sold or retained as household pets, but shall not include any species of dangerous animal.
An injection of United States Department of Agriculture approved rabies vaccine administered every 12 or 36 months under the direct supervision of a licensed veterinarian.
A dwelling, intended to be inhabited by human beings.
Secured by a leash, lead, cord, chain, extendable leash, or rope six feet or less in length and held by the owner or handler; or secured within a kennel or pen within the fenced real property limits of its owner, and may not come any closer than six feet to a public walkway or sidewalk when the restraint lead is stretched to full length.
At-large off premises.
Any dog which is not restrained by means of a leash or chain of not more than fifteen (15) feet in length and such leash or chain is of sufficient strength to control the actions of such animal while off premises.
At-large on premises.
Any dog not confined by premises of owner by a substantial visible fence of sufficient strength and height to prevent the animal from escaping therefrom, or secured on the premises by a metal chain or leash sufficient in strength to prevent the animal from escaping from premises and so arranged that the animal will remain upon the premises when the leash is stretched to full length.
A dog intruding upon the property of another person other than the owner shall be termed “at-large.” Any animal within an automobile or other vehicle of its owner or owner’s agent shall not be deemed “at-large.”
A house or a building, or, in the case of a dangerous animal being kept outdoors, the kennel/pen shall include a roof which is fastened to all vertical walls, which are submerged in a subpervious material. The kennel/pen must be at least six feet in height and have the minimum dimensions of five feet by ten feet. The kennel/pen must form an enclosure suitable to prevent entry of young children, and must be locked and secured such that an animal cannot climb, dig, jump, or otherwise escape of its own volition. The enclosure shall be securely locked at all times. The kennel/pen will provide protection from the elements and allow for daily removal of waste as approved by the animal control supervisor or designee.
The surgical removal of the reproductive organs of a dog or cat to render the animal unable to reproduce.
A doctor of veterinary medicine who holds a valid license to practice his profession in the state.
Shall have the same meaning as “dangerous animal.”
Any poisonous or dangerous reptile or any other animal which can normally be found in the wild state or not normally capable of being domesticated, including, but not limited to:
Reptiles: alligators, crocodiles, or venomous reptiles;
Birds: emus, ostriches, rheas;
Mammals: baboons, badgers, bats, bears, bobcats, caracals, cheetahs, chimpanzees, cougars, coyotes, dingoes, elephants, foxes, gorillas, jackals, jaguars, hyenas, leopards, lions, lynx, monkeys (nonhuman primates), martins, minks, ocelots, orangutans, pandas, panthers, raccoons, servals, skunks, tigers, weasels, wolves;
Marsupials: kangaroos, kinkajous;
Hybrids: Any hybrid of any animals, including the offspring of domesticated canine and wild canine cross-breeds such as coyote or wolf hybrids. This shall apply regardless of duration of captivity; and
Any species of animal illegal to own under federal or state law, and any animal which is or may be hereafter be listed as a “high risk” animal in the Texas Rabies Control Act.
(2006 Code, sec. 14-1; Ordinance 09-02-786, sec. 2, adopted 2/16/09; Ordinance 16-08-1015, sec. 2.01, adopted 8/16/16; Ordinance 16-11-1024, sec. 2.01, adopted 11/1/16)