[Adopted 12-18-1995 by Ord. No. 753 as Secs.
5-1 to 5-8 of the 1995 Revised General Ordinances]
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
Definitions in N.J.S.A. 4:19-15.1 and 4:19-18
shall apply to terms used in this article. Otherwise the following
shall apply:
Any person exercising control over a dog or permitting a
dog to remain on premises under his control.
Any establishment wherein or whereon the business of boarding
or selling dogs or breeding dogs for sale is carried on, except a
pet shop.
[Added 5-10-2010 by Ord. No. 1088]
Any room or group of rooms, cage or exhibition pen, not part
of a kennel, wherein animals for sale are kept or displayed.
[Added 5-10-2010 by Ord. No. 1088]
An establishment for the confinement of animals seized either
under the provisions of this chapter or otherwise.
[Added 5-10-2010 by Ord. No. 1088]
Any establishment where animals are received, housed, and
distributed.
[Added 5-10-2010 by Ord. No. 1088]
No person shall own, keep or harbor a dog in
the Township except in compliance with the provisions of this chapter
and the following regulations.
Licenses shall be required for the following
dogs of licensing age:
A.
Any dog owned or kept within the Township by a resident
of the Township on January 1 of any calendar year.
B.
Certificate of vaccination required. The Township
Clerk shall not issue any dog license or registration tag unless the
owner has provided evidence that the dog has received a rabies inoculation
of the required type that is valid for the full license year and proof
that the inoculation expires after the end of the license year. This
evidence shall include but is not limited to a certificate of rabies
vaccination for the dog to be licensed on a form recommended by the
state and endorsed by the inoculating veterinarian indicating the
expiration of the inoculation after the end of the license year.
C.
Any dog acquired by any person during the course of
any calendar year and kept within the Township for more than 10 days
after acquisition.
D.
Any dog attaining licensing age during the course
of the calendar year.
E.
Any unlicensed dog brought into the Township by any
person and kept within the Township for more than 10 days.
F.
Any dog licensed by another state brought into the
Township by any person and kept within the Township for more than
90 days.
G.
Any violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine of $50
per offense.
[Amended 5-20-2013 by Ord. No. 1176]
A.
Applications for licenses for dogs which are required to be licensed by the provisions of § 19-3A shall be made before January 31 of each calendar year.
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
B.
In all other cases, the application for a license
shall be made within 10 days of the day upon which the dog in question
first becomes subject to the provisions of this article.
The information on all applications under this
article and the registration number issued to each licensed dog shall
be preserved for a period of three years by the Township Clerk. In
addition, he shall forward similar information to the State Department
of Health each month on forms furnished by the Department.
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952; 12-22-2008 by Ord. No.
1060]
The person applying for the license and registration tag shall pay fees as set forth in Chapter 71, Fees, for an annual license and for a one-year registration tag for each dog; and for each renewal, the fee for the license and for the registration tag shall be the same as for the original license and tag. In addition to the fee charged heretofore, any person applying for the license and registration tag shall pay a fee as set forth in Chapter 71, Fees, for any dog which has not had its reproductive capacity permanently altered through sterilization. Any person applying for the license and registration tag shall also pay an additional fee, which shall be forwarded to the State Treasurer to be placed in the Pilot Clinic Fund created pursuant to P.L. 1983, c. 180 (N.J.S.A.4:19A-14) to be used by the Commissioner of Health for the operations of the Animal Sterilization Pilot Clinic established pursuant to that Act.
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
Each dog license and registration tag shall
expire on January 31 of each year.
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
Dogs used as guides for blind persons and commonly known as "Seeing Eye dogs," dogs used to assist handicapped persons and commonly known as "service dogs," dogs used to assist deaf persons and commonly known as "hearing ear" dogs shall be licensed in the same manner as other dogs, except that the owner or keeper shall not be required to pay the fee required in § 19-7.
A.
Wearing of registration. All dogs which are required
by the provisions of this article to be licensed shall wear a collar
or harness with the registration tag for the dog securely fastened
thereto. Any violation of this section shall be punishable by a fine
of $25 per offense.
[Amended 5-20-2013 by Ord. No. 1176]
B.
Removal and use of registration tags. No person, except
an officer in the performance of his duties, shall remove a registration
tag from the collar of any dog without the consent of the owner, nor
shall any person attach a registration tag to a dog for which it was
not issued.
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
A.
No person
shall own, keep, harbor or maintain any dog which habitually barks
or cries between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m.
[Amended 8-27-2018 by Ord. No. 1329]
C.
Dogs barking while unattended. No person shall leave a dog unattended
which habitually barks or cries, and no person shall keep, harbor
or maintain a dog which habitually barks or cries while unattended.
[Added 8-27-2018 by Ord.
No. 1329]
A.
No person
owning, keeping or harboring any dog shall suffer or permit it to
run at large upon the public streets or in any public park, public
building or other public place within the Township.
A.
No person
owning, keeping or harboring any dog shall suffer or permit it to
be upon the public streets or in any of the public places of the Township
unless the dog is accompanied by a person over the age of 12 years
and is securely confined and controlled by an adequate leash not more
than six feet long.
A.
No person
owning, keeping or harboring a dog shall permit or suffer it to do
any injury, or to do any damage to any lawn, shrubbery, flowers, grounds
or property.
A.
No person owning or in charge of any dog shall cause
or allow the dog to soil, defile, defecate on or commit any nuisance
on any common thoroughfare, sidewalk, passageway, by-path, play area,
park or any place where people congregate or walk or upon any public
property or upon any private property, without the permission of the
owner.
B.
Any person owning or in charge of any dog which soils,
defiles, defecates on, or commits any nuisance on any common thoroughfare,
sidewalk, passageway, by-path, play area, park or any place where
people congregate or walk, or upon any public property whatsoever,
or upon any private property, without the permission of the owner
of the property, shall immediately remove all feces deposited by any
such dog, in a sanitary manner.
C.
The feces removed from the aforementioned designated
areas shall be disposed of by the person owning or in charge of any
such dog, in a sealed, nonabsorbent, leakproof container.
D.
The provisions of this subsection shall not apply
to blind persons who may use dogs as guides.
A.
Causes for impounding. The Animal Control Officer
shall take into custody and impound, or cause to be taken into custody
and impounded, any of the following dogs:
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
(1)
Any dog off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring said dog which said official or his agent or
agents have reason to believe is a stray dog;
(2)
Any dog off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring said dog without a current registration tag on
his collar;
(3)
Any female dog in season off the premises of the owner
or of the person keeping or harboring said dog;
(4)
Any dog or other animal which is suspected to be rabid;
(5)
Any dog or other animal off the premises of the owner
reported to, or observed by, the Animal Control Officer to be ill,
injured or creating a threat to public health, safety or welfare,
or otherwise interfering with the enjoyment of property.
B.
Access to premises. Any officer or agent authorized
or empowered to perform any duty under this article is hereby authorized
to go upon any premises to seize for impounding any dog which he may
lawfully seize and impound when such officer is in immediate pursuit
of the dog, except upon the premises of the owner of the dog if the
owner is present and forbids same.
C.
Notice of seizure.
(1)
If any dog so impounded or seized wears a registration
tag, collar or harness having inscribed thereon or attached thereto
the name and address of any person or the owner of, or the person
keeping or harboring the dog is known, the Animal Control Officer
shall immediately serve on the person owning, keeping or harboring
the dog, a notice in writing stating that the dog has been seized
and will be liable to be offered for adoption or destroyed if not
claimed within seven days after service of the notice.
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
(2)
A notice under this subsection may be served either
by delivering it to the person on whom it is to be served, or by leaving
it at the person's usual or last known place of abode, or at the address
given on the collar, or by forwarding it by mail in a prepaid letter
addressed to that person at his usual or last known place of abode,
or to the address given on the collar.
D.
Disposition of unclaimed dogs. The Animal Control
Officer is authorized and empowered to cause the destruction of any
unclaimed dog, in as humane a manner as possible, under any of the
following contingencies:
(1)
When any dog so seized has not been claimed by the
person owning, keeping or harboring such dog within seven days after
notice or within seven days of the dog's detention when notice has
not been or cannot be given, as set forth in the previous subsection.
(2)
If the person owning, keeping or harboring any dog
so seized has not claimed the dog and has not paid all expenses incurred
by reason of its detention, including maintenance, such fees as are
determined by the Animal Control Officer or the Associated Humane
Society.
(3)
If the seized dog is unlicensed at the time of its
seizure and the person owning, keeping or harboring such dog has not
produced a license and registration tag as provided in this chapter.
[Amended 12-20-2004 by Ord. No. 952]
The provisions of N.J.S.A. 4:19-17 (L. 1989,
c. 307) and the amendments and supplements thereto pertaining to vicious
and potentially dangerous dogs are hereby adopted, enacted and incorporated
herein.[1]
Where it has been determined by a physician
that a person has been bitten by a dog, such individual, or his parent
or guardian if he is a minor, shall immediately notify the police.
The Township Clerk shall annually or biennially
cause a canvass to be made of all dogs owned, kept or harbored within
the limits of the Township and shall report to the Township Clerk,
the Board of Health and to the State Department of Health the results
thereof, setting forth in separate columns the names and addresses
of persons owning, keeping or harboring dogs; the number of licensed
dogs owned, kept or harbored by each person, together with the registration
number of each dog; the number of unlicensed dogs owned, kept or harbored
by each person, together with a complete description of each unlicensed
dog.
No person shall hinder, molest or interfere
with anyone authorized or empowered to perform any duty under this
chapter.
A.
License fees and other monies collected or received
under the provisions of this article, except the registration tag
fees, shall be forwarded to the Township Treasurer within 30 days
after collection or receipt, and shall be placed in a special account
separate from any of the other accounts of the Township and shall
be used for the following purposes only: collecting, keeping and disposing
of dogs liable to seizure under this chapter; local prevention and
control of rabies; providing anti-rabies treatment under the direction
of the local Board of Health for any person known or suspected to
have been exposed to rabies; all other purposes prescribed by the
statutes of New Jersey governing the subject, and for administering
the provisions of this article. Any unexpended balance remaining in
such special account shall be retained therein 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 the 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 Township 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.
B.
The registration tag fee shall be forwarded within
30 days after collection by the Township Clerk to the State Department
of Health.
The governing body shall have the power to appoint
an Animal Control Officer whose duty it shall be to enforce the provisions
of this chapter and impound unlicensed dogs running at large in violation
of the provisions of this chapter. The Animal Control Officer shall
make a monthly and annual report to the governing body.
A.
Establishment. The position of Animal Control Officer
is hereby created.
B.
Term. The Animal Control Officer may be appointed
under contractual arrangement.
C.
Duties. The Animal Control Officer shall perform all
of the duties imposed upon him by the statutes of the State of New
Jersey, as well as the administrative regulations of the State Department
of Health of the State of New Jersey, as well as such duties as are
imposed by Township ordinances.