[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:
ANIMAL
For the purpose of this article, dog or cat.
ANIMAL CONTROL AUTHORITY
Any person or agency designated or certified by the State of New Jersey to enforce the provisions of this article.
CAT
Any member of the domestic feline species, male, female or altered.
CAT OF LICENSING AGE
Any cat which has attained the age of seven months or which possesses a set of permanent teeth.
CATTERY
Any room or group of rooms, cage or exhibition pen, not part of a kennel, wherein cats for sale are kept or displayed.
LICENSING AUTHORITY
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.
NEUTERED
Rendered permanently incapable of reproduction as certified by a licensed veterinarian.
OWNER
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.
PERSON
Any individual, corporation, partnership, organization or institution commonly recognized by law as a unit.
[Amended 10-20-2003 by Ord. No. 820]
A. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
Vaccination certificate. A certificate of vaccination shall be issued to the owner of each animal vaccinated on a form recommended by the state.
E. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
Cats brought into jurisdiction.
(1) 
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) 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
Fees; renewals; expiration date of license.
[Amended 12-3-1993 by Ord. No. 672; 10-20-2003 by Ord. No. 820]
(1) 
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) 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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. 
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.