All animals lawfully kept as pets which are capable of transmitting
rabies and which are harbored, possessed or maintained within the
City shall be inoculated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian
and such vaccination shall be repeated annually thereafter. The owner
acquiring such animal shall have the animal inoculated within 30 days
after its acquisition, or before the animal reaches four months of
age, whichever occurs last.
(Code 1994 § 6-91; Code 1965 § 6-16)
(a) Notification – Confinement and Observation.
The owner of any dog or other animal that is capable of transmitting
rabies which has bitten any person shall immediately notify the Animal
Control Officer or a police officer of such.
(1) It shall be unlawful for the owner of any dog or other covered animal
that has bitten any person or that has been exposed to another animal
that is believed to have rabies to destroy such animal before it can
be properly confined and observed under the supervision of the County
Health Department and/or the Animal Control Officer.
(2) Any dog or other covered animal that has bitten any person or has
been exposed to another animal that is believed to have rabies shall
be immediately confined and observed for a period of no fewer than
10 days from the date of the bite or exposure.
(i) Such confinement may be, at the discretion of the Animal Control
Officer or police officer, on the premises of the owner if deemed
appropriate with sufficient safeguard. If not on the owner’s
premises, the confinement shall be at the animal control center or
at any licensed veterinary hospital of the owner’s choice. Such
confinement shall be at the sole expense of the owner.
(ii)
When any dog or other covered animal is confined on the owner’s
premises, the Animal Control Officer shall make frequent checks to
determine the condition of the confined animal.
(3) Failure To Produce Animal – Penalty.
The
owner of any dog or other covered animal that has been reported as
having inflicted a bite on any person shall, on demand of the Animal
Control Officer or a police officer, produce the animal for examination
and quarantine. It shall be unlawful for the owner of any such animal
to fail or refuse to produce the animal on demand, and any such failure
or refusal shall subject the owner to immediate arrest if there shall
exist probable cause to believe that the animal in question has inflicted
a bite upon a person and that the owner is harboring or keeping the
animal and willfully refuses to produce the animal upon such demand.
Upon arrest, the owner shall be taken by an officer of the Police
Department before a judge of the Municipal Court, who may order the
immediate production of the animal. Each day of such willful refusal
to produce the animal shall constitute a separate violation and offense.
(4) Diagnosis by Veterinarian.
(i) When an animal under quarantine has been diagnosed by a licensed
veterinarian as being rabid, the veterinarian making such diagnosis
shall immediately notify the County Health Department and advise it
of any reports of human contact with such rabid animal. The County
Health Department shall, pursuant to its rules and procedures, humanely
destroy such rabid animal.
(ii)
If any animal under quarantine dies while under observation
and before a diagnosis has been made, the Animal Control Officer shall
immediately notify the County Health Department, which will take action
to obtain a pathological and inoculation examination of the animal.
(iii)
If after the 10-day or longer confinement and observation period
provided for in this section the dog or other covered animal has not
been diagnosed by a licensed veterinarian as having rabies, the quarantined
animal shall be released from confinement by the Animal Control Officer
upon payment of all impoundment and other quarantine fees as applicable
and vaccination for rabies.
(b) Removal from Quarantine for Rabies.
It shall be unlawful for any person to remove from any place of quarantine any animal which has been quarantined pursuant to subsection
(a) of this section without the expressed consent of the Animal Control Officer.
(Code 1994 § 6-92; Code 1965 § 6-17)
Except where specific reference is made in this chapter to dogs, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to dogs, which are treated in Chapter
6.12 GJMC.
(Code 1994 § 6-93; Code 1965 § 6-18)