[R.O. 2006 §210.250; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999; Ord. No. 1654, 12-19-2025]
A. 
Every owner of any dog or cat over six (6) months of age shall annually register with the Animal Control Officer his/her name and address with the name, sex and description of each dog or cat owned and kept within the City. It shall be unlawful for the owner of any newly acquired dog or cat or any dog or cat brought into the City to fail to register such animal within thirty (30) days from acquisition or bringing the dog or cat into the City. It shall be unlawful for the owner of any previously registered dog or cat to fail to maintain current registration of such dog or cat.
B. 
Upon registration, the owner shall present a current, completed certificate of immunization against rabies. No registration shall follow without evidence of this document, and it shall be unlawful for the owner of any dog or cat over six (6) months of age to fail to maintain effective rabies immunization of such dog or cat.
C. 
The owner or harborer of any dog or cat shall, at the time of registering such dog or cat, present to the Animal Control Officer a certificate from an accredited veterinarian showing that a male dog or cat has been neutered or a female dog or cat has been spayed, if the dog or cat has been neutered or spayed.
D. 
The Violations Bureau shall collect an annual registration fee of three dollars ($3.00) for each neutered male dog or cat and for each spayed female dog or cat, and five dollars ($5.00) for each unneutered male dog or cat and for each unspayed female dog or cat.
E. 
Registration fees as enumerated above may be prorated for newly acquired dogs or for dogs owned by a person or persons moving to and establishing a home in the City during a calendar year.
[R.O. 2006 §210.260; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999; Ord. No. 1654, 12-19-2025]
It shall be the duty of the Animal Control Officer or designated agent, upon a showing of current rabies immunization and receipt of the registration fee hereinbefore required, to keep in a book suitable for the registration of dogs, the time of the registration, the name of the owner or keeper, the number of the registration and the amount paid therefor, and shall deliver to the owner or keeper of the dog or cat a certificate in writing, stating that the person has registered the dog or cat and the number by which the dog or cat is registered, and shall also deliver to the owner or keeper of the dog or cat a tag with the registration number and the registration year thereon, which shall be, by the owner or keeper, attached to the collar to be used on the dog or cat so registered. When any tag has become lost during a registration period, the owner of the dog or cat may request a duplicate tag for the remainder of the registration period. When so requested, the Animal Control Officer shall, upon presentation of the registration certificate, issue a duplicate of such tag upon payment of a two dollar ($2.00) fee. It shall be unlawful for any person to take off or remove the City registration tag from any dog or cat belonging to another, or remove the strap or collar on which the same is fastened.
[R.O. 2006 §210.270; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999]
It shall be unlawful for any person to place on any dog or cat a tag issued for any other dog or cat or to make or use any false, forged or counterfeited tag or imitation thereof.
[R.O. 2006 §210.280; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999]
It shall be unlawful for the owner of any dog or cat kept within the City to fail to display a current certificate of immunization against rabies issued by an accredited veterinarian evidencing the vaccination of such dog or cat within two (2) years, when requested by the Animal Control Officer or any Law Enforcement Officer.
[R.O. 2006 §210.290; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999; Ord. No. 1480 §II, 4-15-2013]
The provisions of this Article with respect to registration shall not apply to any dog owned by any person visiting or temporarily remaining within the City for less than thirty (30) days, nor to Seeing Eye dogs properly trained to assist blind persons, when such dogs are actually being used for blind persons for the purpose of aiding them in going from place to place. However, such dogs shall be kept under restraint by the owner thereof at all times.
[R.O. 2006 §210.300; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999; Ord. No. 1275, 5-14-2001; Ord. No. 1480 §III, 4-15-2013; Ord. No. 1492 § III, 8-20-2015]
A. 
It shall be unlawful for the owner of harborer of any animal to permit such animal to run at large within the City at any time.
B. 
Any dog running at large within the City shall be impounded as set out in Section 205.300. Any cat running at large will be immediately relinquished to a non-profit animal shelter if available.
C. 
The owner of any dog impounded for running at large shall be subject to penalties and fines as provided by Section 100.220 plus the impoundment fee.
[R.O. 2006 §§210.180, 210.310; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999; Ord. No. 1274, 5-14-2001; Ord. No. 1275, 5-14-2001; Ord. No. 1480 §IV, 4-15-2013]
A. 
Any dog found in violation of the provisions of this Article shall be subject to impoundment by the City. Any cat running at large will be immediately relinquished to a non-profit animal shelter if available.
B. 
A record of all dogs impounded shall be kept by the City containing the following information: color, sex, weight, height, identifying marks, registration number (if any) and the date of impoundment.
C. 
If the dog impounded has a current registration tag attached to its collar or if the impounding officer knows the identity of the dog's owner, the owner of such dog, as shown by the records of the Police Clerk, shall be notified in writing as soon as possible or at least twenty-four (24) hours before such dog is disposed of by destruction or sale. If, at the end of one (1) week the Animal Control Officer has been unable to locate the owner, or the owner, upon having been located, refuses to claim or redeem said dog, then the dog may be adopted out, euthanized or otherwise disposed of.
D. 
If the dog impounded has no current registration tag and the identity of the animal's owner is unknown to the Animal Control Officer or the impounding Law Enforcement Officer, then such impounding officer shall, upon taking any such animal into custody and impounding the same, make a record thereof, with a description of the animal and the date and place taken into custody and the place of impounding, and shall thereupon immediately post a public notice stating that the animal, describing the same with the date and place of taking, has been taken up, and that unless the charges of impounding the same, together with any license fees due and unpaid, are paid within one (1) week from the date of the notice, that the animal will be disposed of as provided in this Code. If within one (1) week the owner does not appear to claim the dog, then the dog may be adopted out, euthanized or otherwise disposed of.
E. 
If, at any time before the sale or destruction of any dog impounded under the provisions of this Article, the owner of an impounded dog does appear and redeem the dog, it shall be turned over to the person claiming it upon payment of any impoundment fees or penalties plus the actual costs of impoundment, and upon compliance with the registration provisions of this Article. This Subsection shall not apply to any dog alleged as being vicious under Section 205.160 or suspected of rabies under Section 205.190 of this Code.
F. 
The Animal Control Officer or Law Enforcement Officer shall impound any animal or fowl found at large or if such animal shows evidence of neglect or abuse in the City or constituting a nuisance or otherwise in violation of this Chapter in a suitable pound or enclosure provided or contracted for by the City. The impounding officer shall make diligent inquiry as to the owner of the animal and shall notify the owner thereof of such impoundment as soon as reasonably possible.
G. 
For the first offense the City shall be entitled to receive from such owner an impoundment fee of ten dollars ($10.00) plus five dollars ($5.00) per day for the cost of feeding and maintaining the animal while impounded. For the second offense the City shall be entitled to receive from such owner an impoundment fee of twenty dollars ($20.00) plus five dollars ($5.00) per day and for the third and subsequent offenses the City shall be entitled to receive from such owner an impoundment fee of thirty dollars ($30.00) plus five dollars ($5.00) per day. The minimum impoundment fee shall be fifteen dollars ($15.00).
H. 
The Animal Control Officer shall each month submit a report to the Police Chief, who shall forward a copy to the Board of Aldermen, showing the number of animals impounded and disposed of, and the fees collected pursuant to this Article and shall pay those fees to the Violations Bureau for credit to the General Operating Fund.
I. 
Any dog impounded may not be released without a current rabies vaccination.
J. 
Impoundment hereunder shall not preclude any court from imposing and executing any fine which might otherwise be levied under this Article for violation of any of the provisions thereof; nor shall impoundment be a defense in any prosecution commenced thereunder.
K. 
The redemption of any dog impounded for a violation of any provision of this Chapter shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of such provision by the person redeeming the dog.
L. 
Unclaimed dogs can be adopted from the Willow Springs City Pound for a fee of forty dollars ($40.00) and only after such dog has been held for the required hours. Anyone wishing to adopt such dog will be interviewed by the Animal Control Officer and will be required to sign an adoption contract that recommends the dog to be spayed or neutered within thirty (30) days of the date of said contract. The City of Willow Springs will refund fifteen dollars ($15.00) of the adoption fee upon receipt of proof that dog was spayed or neutered within thirty (30) days of adoption.
[R.O. 2006 §210.320; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999; Ord. No. 1480 §V, 4-15-2013]
If any dog is not redeemed by its owner or harborer within the time allowed for redemption as specified in Section 205.300 thereof, the Animal Control Officer, any authorized Law Enforcement Officer, any authorized veterinarian or any duly authorized pound personnel may destroy such dog or sell the same for the costs of impoundment and keeping, plus any registration fee due the current year.
[R.O. 2006 §210.330; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999]
Any unspayed female dog or cat in the stages of estrus (heat) shall be confined during such period of time in a house, building or secure enclosure, and the area of enclosure shall be so constructed that no other dog or cat or dogs may gain voluntary access to the confined animal except for purposes of planned breeding. Any animal that is in the state of estrus (heat) and that is not properly confined, or any such animal that is creating a neighborhood nuisances, shall be removed to a boarding kennel, to a veterinary hospital or to the animal shelter. All expenses incurred as a result of the confinement shall be paid by the owner. The owner of animals removed to the animal shelter shall be charged at the rate established from time to time by the animal shelter for routine confinement.
[R.O. 2006 §210.340; Ord. No. 1246, 9-7-1999]
Whenever the Mayor shall deem it necessary for the protection and welfare of the inhabitants of the City, he/she shall issue an order requiring all dogs or cats kept within the City to be effectively muzzled for such length of time as may be specified in the order to prevent them from biting or injuring persons or animals. Such order shall be published in the official newspaper of the City for such period of time as the Mayor may deem necessary.
[Ord. No. 1492 § IV, 8-20-2015]
A. 
No person shall bring or maintain possession or control of any dog or canine to any City sponsored or sanctioned public gathering as defined in this Chapter upon any public property or within one hundred (100) feet either side of the center of the street or other route for events such as parades, or within one hundred (100) feet of the boundary of such event, without permission from the Board of Aldermen.
B. 
This Section shall not apply to:
1. 
Service dogs as may be individually prescribed by a licensed medical provider upon presentation of such proof.
2. 
City, County, State or Federal Law Enforcement officers while acting as such.
C. 
Any person who violates the provisions of this Section shall be subject to a fine as provided by Section 100.220.