In this chapter:
Any person who:
Breeds dogs or cats;
Sells or otherwise transfers possession of the offspring of
a breeding dog or cat to another person for the purpose of breeding
or resale to a third person; and
Sells or otherwise transfers possession of more than 12 dogs, cats, or both within any 12-month period for a purpose described in subsection (2) above.
Vaccinated against rabies and satisfying all of the following
criteria:
A domesticated member of the family Canidae, but does not
include a wolf, jackal, coyote, fox or other wild animal of this family.
An area that is completely surrounded by a substantial fence
of sufficient strength, height, construction, materials, and design
as to prevent:
Any person who has care, custody, control, or possession
of an animal for 72 hours or more.
The product of the mating of two different species of animals
regardless of the number of generations born since that original mating.
A person licensed to practice veterinary medicine, or an
authorized representative under that person’s direct supervision.
Any person owning, keeping, or harboring an animal.
An individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation,
or other legal entity.
Means an animal, other than a common domestic species and regardless
of state or duration of captivity, that poses a potential physical
or disease threat to the public or that is protected by international,
federal, or state regulations, including but not limited to the following:
Class Reptilia: family Helodermatidae (venomous lizards); family
Viperidae (rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, other pit vipers
and true vipers); family Elapidae (coral snakes, cobras, mambas, and
other elapids); the following listed species of family Colubridae:
Dispholidus typus (boomslang), Hyrodynastes gigas (water cobra), Boiga
(mangrove snake), and Thelotornis (African twig snake) only; order
Ophidia, family Boidae (racers, boas, water snakes, and pythons);
and order Crocodilia (crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and gavials);
Class Aves: order Falconiformes (such as hawks, eagles, and
vultures); and order Strigiformes (such as owls);
Class Mammalia: order Carnivora, family Felidae (such as ocelots,
margays, tigers, jaguars, leopards, and cougars), except commonly
accepted domesticated cats; family Canidae (such as wolves, wolf-dog
hybrids, dingoes, coyotes, and jackals), except domesticated dogs;
family Mustelidae (such as weasels, skunks, ferrets, martins, mink,
and badgers); family Procyonidae (raccoon); family Ursidae (such as
bears); order Edentata (such as sloths, anteaters, and armadillos);
order Proboscidea (elephants); order Primata (such as monkeys, chimpanzees,
and gorillas); order Rodentia (such as porcupines); and order Ungulata
(such as antelope, deer, bison, and camels);
Animals not listed: The city marshal may declare any species
of animal not listed in this subsection as “prohibited”
if the confinement of the animal within the city can be shown to constitute
a threat to public health and safety; and
The holding of an animal in the county shelter due to arrest,
eviction, hospitalization, or death of the owner or harborer of the
animal or at the request of a law enforcement agency.
A business that regularly sells animals for pet purposes
to an ultimate owner or harborer. The term includes any owner, operator,
agent, or employee of the business.
The condition of a male or female animal incapable of reproduction.
An animal that is not restrained by a leash, fenced yard,
or enclosed structure.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.101)
(a)
A
person who violates a provision of this chapter, or who fails to perform
an act required of him by this chapter, commits an offense. A person
commits a separate offense each day or portion of a day during which
a violation is committed, permitted, or continued.
(b)
An offense under this chapter is punishable by a fine in accordance with the general penalty provision set forth in section 1.01.009 of this code.
(c)
It
is a defense to prosecution under this chapter that the person charged
with a violation of this chapter has successfully completed a course
in responsible pet ownership approved by the city marshal. This defense
may not be used more than once within any 24-month period.
(d)
A
person may not be issued more than one notice for a violation of this
chapter before a citation will be issued.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.120)
(a)
A
person commits an offense if he interferes with, hinders, or molests
any agent of animal control in the performance of his official duties.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.119)
The city marshal or his representative is authorized to:
(1)
Kill
by appropriate and available means an animal which poses an imminent
danger to a person or property and a real or apparent necessity exists
for destruction of the animal; or
(2)
Impound
an animal which is diseased and endangers the health of a person or
another animal.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.102)
The city council may select facilities in the county for impoundment,
maintenance, and destruction of stray, diseased, or vicious animals.
(Ordinance 06-02, sec. 2, adopted 7/18/06; 2006 Code, sec. 2.103)
If an animal is found upon the premises of a person who is not
the owner or harborer of the animal, the occupant of the premises
may confine the animal. Within 72 hours after confinement, the occupant
shall notify the city marshal, and he may impound the animal.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.104)
A person who harbors an animal commits an offense, without regard
to his mental state, if he fails to restrain the animal in a fenced
yard or an enclosed structure, or by a leash.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.105)
The city marshal is authorized to impound an animal, other than a cat or fowl, which strays in the city, and may impound a cat or fowl which has been confined under section 2.01.006 of this chapter.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.106)
(a)
A
person commits an offense if, within the city limits, he sets up or
allows to be set up on his property a steel jaw trap, a spring trap
with teeth or perforated edges on the holding mechanism, or any type
of trap with a holding mechanism designed to reasonably ensure the
cutting, slicing, tearing, or otherwise traumatizing of the entrapped
prey.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.107)
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.110)
(a)
A
person commits an offense if he intentionally wounds, maims, cripples,
or kills a game bird, songbird, or other insectivorous bird in the
city.
(b)
It
is a defense to prosecution under this section that the bird was a
common English sparrow or the city marshal determined the bird was
endangering the public health, safety, or welfare.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.111)
(a)
A
person who harbors a pigeon commits an offense if he intentionally
allows the pigeon to stray in the city.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.112)
(b)
It
is a defense to prosecution under this section that the sale, rental,
exchange or gift was by a person having scientific, educational, governmental
or similar justification.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.113)
(a)
A person who sells in the city a warm-blooded animal, except as excluded in subsection (b), to any person, for use, retention, resale, or transfer of the animal as a pet shall:
(1)
Have had the animal examined by a veterinarian in the past 30 days;
and
(2)
Furnish the purchaser a certificate in the following format and containing
specific information identified in the parentheses, which certificate
shall be signed by the seller: The (description of animal) sold by
(name of seller) to (name of buyer) on (date of sale) (is) (is not)
a primate and has been examined on (date of examination) by (name
of veterinarian), a licensed veterinarian, who certified that the
animal was found free of disease or parasites. (signature of seller)
(c)
A
person commits an offense if he knowingly sells an animal that has
a disease or internal parasites for use, retention, resale, or transfer
as a pet.
(d)
If
an animal is a primate, the seller shall furnish a certificate from
a licensed veterinarian certifying that the animal was tested for
tuberculosis and is free of the disease.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.114)
A person or veterinarian who has reason to believe an animal
has rabies, symptoms of rabies, or other diseases communicable to
persons shall report this fact immediately to the city marshal.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.115)
(a)
A
person commits an offense if he permits any yard, ground, premises,
or structure belonging to, controlled by, or occupied by him to become
nauseous, foul, offensive, or injurious to the public health or unpleasant
and disagreeable to adjacent residents or persons due to the accumulation
of animal excreta.
(b)
A
person commits an offense if he permits an animal or animal excreta
on property owned, controlled, or occupied by him to emit beyond his
property line an odor, the strength of which equals or exceeds two
odor units as measured by the code enforcement officer on a Barnaby-Cheney
Scentometer or an equivalent odor-testing device.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.116)
(a)
An
owner, harborer, or other person having care, custody, or control
of a dog commits an offense if he knowingly permits, or by insufficient
control allows, the dog to defecate in the city on private property
or on property located in a public place.
(b)
An
owner, harborer, or other person having care, custody, or control
of a dog commits an offense if he:
(1)
Knowingly permits the dog to enter or be present on private property
or on property located in a public place; and
(2)
Fails to have in his possession materials or implements that, either
alone or in combination with each other, can be used to immediately,
and in a sanitary and lawful manner, both remove and dispose of any
excreta the dog may deposit on the property.
(c)
It is a defense to prosecution under subsection (a) that the owner, harborer, or other person having care, custody, or control of the dog immediately and in a sanitary and lawful manner removed and disposed of, or caused the removal and disposal of, all excreta deposited on the property by the dog.
(d)
(1)
The property was owned, leased, or controlled by the owner, harborer,
or person having care, custody, or control of the dog;
(2)
The owner or person in control of the property had given prior consent
for the dog to defecate on the property; or
(3)
The dog was being used in official law enforcement activities.
(e)
This
section does not apply to a dog that is specially trained to assist
a person with a disability and that was in the care, custody, or control
of that disabled person at the time it defecated or was otherwise
present on private property or on property located in a public place.
(Ordinance 06-02, sec. 2, adopted 7/18/06; 2006 Code, sec. 2.117)
(a)
A
person commits an offense if he knowingly harbors an animal that unreasonably
barks, howls, crows, or makes other unreasonable noise near a private
residence. Noise made by an animal is unreasonable under this subsection
if the noise continues more than 15 minutes.
(b)
A
person who is disturbed by an animal that unreasonably barks, howls,
crows, or makes other unreasonable noise near a private residence
may file a disturbance complaint with the city marshal. A disturbance
complaint must include the name and address of the complainant, the
location of the disturbance, the type of animal causing the disturbance,
and the times that the animal is causing the disturbance.
(c)
The
city marshal shall mail to the owner or harborer of the animal a notice
that a disturbance complaint has been received. A copy of the notice
must be mailed to the complainant.
(Ordinance adopting 2006 Code; 2006
Code, sec. 2.118)
