Every physician or other medical practitioner who treats a person
or persons for any animal bite/scratch or any person having knowledge
of an animal bite/scratch shall, not later than twenty-four (24) hours
from the time of the incident, report such knowledge or treatment
to the animal control division, giving the name, age, sex and precise
location of the bitten/scratched person or persons and such other
information as the animal control division may reasonably require.
(Ordinance 97-12, sec. I (6.28.010),
adopted 12/8/97; Ordinance adopting
Code)
Any veterinarian who clinically diagnoses rabies or any person
who suspects rabies in a dog, cat or other domestic or wild animal
shall immediately report the incident to the animal control officer,
stating precisely where such animal may be found. If a known suspected
rabid animal bites or scratches a domestic animal, such incident shall
also be reported as required above.
(Ordinance 97-12, sec. I (6.28.020),
adopted 12/8/97)
(a)
Any owned domestic dog, cat or ferret which has bitten or scratched a person shall be observed for a period of seventy-two (72) hours from the date of the bite or euthanized and processed for rabies testing. The procedure and place of observation shall be designated by the investigating officer or responsible agency, in compliance with state law. If the dog or cat is not confined on the owner’s premises, confinement shall be at a veterinary hospital of the owner’s choice. Such confinement shall be at the owner’s expense. Stray dogs and cats, or those animals whose owners cannot be located, shall be destroyed and the brain of such animal immediately submitted to a qualified laboratory for rabies examination. The owner of any dog or cat that has been reported to have inflicted a bite on any person shall, on demand, produce said dog or cat for impoundment, as prescribed in this chapter. Home quarantine, as defined in section 2.01.002, may be allowed only in those incidents where permitted by state law and agreed to by the animal control officer. Refusal to produce said dog or cat constitutes a violation of this section, and each day of such refusal shall constitute a separate and individual violation.
(b)
Any wild, exotic or dangerous animal as defined in section 2.01.002, and considered “high risk” according to state law, which has bitten or scratched a person shall be caught and humanely killed and the brain submitted for rabies examination. Those wild animals which are classified as “low risk” animals shall be handled as dictated by state law.
(Ordinance 97-12, sec. I (6.28.030),
adopted 12/8/97; Ordinance
14-745, sec. 2, adopted 8/25/14)
