[Adopted 10-7-1991 by Ord. No. 631 (Ch.
24 of the 1973 Code)]
Certain words, phrases and terms in this article
are defined for the purposes herein as follows:
For the purpose of this article, dog or cat.
Any person or agency designated or certified by the State
of New Jersey to enforce the provisions of this article.
Any member of the domestic feline species, male, female or
altered.
Any cat which has attained the age of seven months or which
possesses a set of permanent teeth.
Any room or group of rooms, cage or exhibition pen, not part
of a kennel, wherein cats for sale are kept or displayed.
The agency or department of the Borough of Shrewsbury, or
any designated representative thereof, charged with administering
the issuance and/or revocation of permits and licenses under the provisions
of this article.
Rendered permanently incapable of reproduction as certified
by a licensed veterinarian.
When applied to the proprietorship of a cat, shall include
every person having a right of property or custody in such cat and
every person who has such cat in his/her keeping or who harbors or
maintains a cat or knowingly permits a cat to remain on or about any
premises occupied by that person.
Any individual, corporation, partnership, organization or
institution commonly recognized by law as a unit.
[Amended 10-20-2003 by Ord. No. 820]
A.Â
Vaccination and license requirements. No person shall
own, keep, harbor or maintain any cat over seven months of age within
the Borough of Shrewsbury unless such cat is vaccinated and licensed.
The provisions of this section do not apply to cats held in a cattery,
or those held by a state-licensed or federally licensed research facility,
or a veterinary establishment where cats are received or kept for
diagnostic, medical, surgical or other treatments, or licensed animal
shelters, pounds, kennels or pet shops.
B.Â
Vaccination. All cats shall be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian in accordance with the latest Compendium of Animal Rabies Vaccines and Recommendations for Immunization published by the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, except as provided for in Subsection E.
C.Â
Any rabies vaccination certificate that expires before
November 1 of the licensing year will require an updated vaccination
prior to the issuance of a new license.
D.Â
Vaccination certificate. A certificate of vaccination
shall be issued to the owner of each animal vaccinated on a form recommended
by the state.
E.Â
Exemptions. Any cat may be exempted from the requirements
of such vaccination for a specified period of time by the local Board
of Health, upon presentation of a veterinarian's certificate stating
that because of an infirmity or other physical condition, or regimen
of therapy, the inoculation of such cat shall be deemed inadvisable.
A.Â
Cats must have license number displayed. Any person
who shall own, keep or harbor a cat of licensing age shall annually
apply for and procure from the Clerk of the municipality, or other
official designated by the governing body thereof to license cats
in the municipality in which he/she resides, a license and official
registration tag with license number, or a registration sleeve for
each cat so owned, kept or harbored, and shall place upon such cat
a collar or other device with the license number securely fastened
or displayed thereto. Acceptable methods of displaying license number
shall include but are not limited to breakaway or elastic collars.
License tags or sleeves are not transferable.
B.Â
Time for applying for license. The owner of any newly
acquired cat of licensing age, or of any cat which attains licensing
age, shall make application for a license tag or sleeve for such cat
within 10 days after such acquisition or age attainment. This requirement
will not apply to a nonresident keeping a cat within the Borough of
Shrewsbury for no longer than 90 days.
C.Â
Cats brought into jurisdiction.
(1)Â
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought
into the Borough of Shrewsbury any cat licensed in another state for
the current year, and bearing a registration tag or sleeve, and shall
keep the same or permit the same to be kept within the Borough of
Shrewsbury for a period of more than 90 days shall immediately apply
for a license and registration tag or sleeve for each such cat.
(2)Â
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought
into the Borough of Shrewsbury any unlicensed cat and shall keep same
or permit same to be kept within the Borough of Shrewsbury for a period
of more than 10 days shall immediately apply for a license and registration
tag or sleeve for each such cat.
D.Â
Application; contents; preservation of information.
The application shall state the breed, sex, age, color and markings
of the cat for which license and registration are sought and whether
it is of a long- or short-haired variety; also the name, street and
post office address of the owner and the person who shall keep or
harbor such cat. The information on said application and the registration
number issued for the cat shall be preserved for a period of three
years by the Clerk or other local official designated to license cats
in the municipality.
E.Â
License forms and tags. License forms and official
tags or sleeves shall be furnished by the municipality and shall be
numbered serially and shall bear the year of issuance and the name
of the municipality.
F.Â
Evidence of inoculation with rabies vaccine or certification of exemption; requirement for license. No municipal clerk or other official designated by the governing body of any municipality to license cats therein shall grant any such license and official registration tag or sleeve for any cat, unless the owner thereof provides evidence that the cat to be licensed and registered has been inoculated with a rabies vaccine of a type approved by and administered in accordance with the recommendations of the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Human Services, or has been certified exempt as provided by § 67-12 of this article. The rabies inoculation shall be administered by a duly licensed veterinarian or by such other veterinarian permitted by law to do the same.
G.Â
License fee schedule. A license shall be issued after
payment of a fee of $13 for each unneutered cat and $10 for each neutered
cat.
[Amended 10-20-2003 by Ord. No. 820]
H.Â
Fees; renewals; expiration date of license.
[Amended 12-3-1993 by Ord. No. 672; 10-20-2003 by Ord. No.
820]
(1)Â
A license from another municipality shall be accepted.
The person applying for the license and registration tag and/or sleeve
shall pay the fee fixed or authorized. The fee for the renewal of
the license and registration tag or sleeve shall be the same as for
the original, and said license, registration tag or sleeve and renewal
thereof shall expire on the last day of January in the following year.
A late fee of $5 per month shall be assessed on all license renewals
issued to a cat owner after the expiration date of January 31.
(2)Â
Only one license and registration tag or sleeve shall
be required in the licensing year for any cat in the Borough of Shrewsbury.
Any valid New Jersey license tag or sleeve issued by a New Jersey
municipality shall be accepted by this municipality as evidence of
compliance.
I.Â
Proof of licensing. Proof of licensing shall be produced
by any person owning, keeping, maintaining or harboring a cat upon
the request of any health official, police officer, animal control
officer or other authorized person.
J.Â
Interfering with persons performing duties under this
article. No person shall hinder, molest or interfere with anyone authorized
or empowered to perform any duty under this article.
K.Â
Disposition of fees collected. License fees and other
moneys collected or received under the provisions of this article
shall be forwarded to the Chief Financial Officer of the municipality
and shall be placed in a special account separate from any of the
other accounts of the municipality and shall be used for the following
purposes only: collecting, keeping and disposing of cats liable to
seizure, for local prevention and control of rabies, providing antirabies
treatment under the direction of the local Board of Health for any
person known or suspected to have been exposed to rabies and for administering
the provisions of this article. Any unexpected balance remaining in
such special account shall be retained until the end of the third
fiscal year following and may be used for any of the purposes set
forth in this section. At the end of said third fiscal year following,
and at the end of each fiscal year thereafter, there shall be transferred
from such special account to the general funds of the municipality
any amount then in such account which is in excess of the total amount
paid into the special account during the last two fiscal years next
preceding.
A.Â
No person owning or having the care, custody or control
of any cat shall permit such cat to soil or defile or to commit any
nuisance upon any sidewalk, gutter, street, thoroughfare, park, in
or upon any public property or in or upon the property of persons
other than the owner or person having the care, custody and control
of such cat.
B.Â
No person owning or having the care, custody or control
of any cat shall suffer or permit it to soil or defile or do any injury
or damage to any lawn, shrubbery, flowers, grounds, trees or any property
of persons other than the owner or person having the care, custody
or control of such cat.
C.Â
It shall be the duty of any person owning or having
the care, custody or control of any cat to remove any feces left by
such cat on any sidewalk, gutter, street, thoroughfare, park or other
public area or private property not his own.
A.Â
Any person appointed for the purpose shall take into
custody and impound, or cause to be taken into custody and impounded,
any male or female cat running at large in this municipality contrary
to any of the provisions or sections of this article.
B.Â
When any cat so seized has been detained for seven
days after notice when notice can be given, or has been detained for
seven days after seizure when notice cannot be given, in accordance
with the laws of the State of New Jersey, and if the owner or person
keeping or harboring said cat has not claimed said cat and paid all
expenses incurred by reason of its seizure and detention, and if the
cat is unlicensed at the time of the seizure and the owner or person
keeping or harboring said cat has not produced a license and registration
tag for said cat, the designated authority may cause the cat to be
destroyed in a manner causing as little pain as possible.
[Amended 3-14-1994 by Ord. No. 677]
Any person, firm or corporation violating any
provision of this article shall, upon conviction, be subject to a
fine of not less than $50 nor more than $1,250, a term of imprisonment
not exceeding 90 days or a period of community service not exceeding
90 days, or any combination thereof. Any person charged with violating
any provision of this article after once having been convicted of
a violation of this article shall be required to appear in court to
answer such charge.
Nothing herein contained shall in any way be
construed as relieving any person from complying with any state statutes
or other regulations pertaining to the licensing and registration
of cats, and this article is intended to be supplementary to any provisions
of any such other laws.