[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Committee
of the Township of New Hanover as indicated in article histories.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 7-13-1976 as Ch. V of the 1974 Code]
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Any dog, bitch or spayed bitch.
Any dog which has attained the age of seven months or which
possesses a set of teeth.
Any establishment wherein or whereon the business of boarding
or selling dogs or breeding dogs for sale is carried on, except a
pet shop.
When applied to proprietorship of a dog, includes every person
having a right of property in such dog and every person who has such
dog in his keeping.
Any room or group of rooms, cage or exhibition pen, not part
of a kennel, wherein dogs for sale are kept or displayed.
An establishment for the confinement of dogs seized either
under the provisions of this article or otherwise.
Includes the running or standing of any dog on any street,
road or other public place, or any private property where permission
for the dog to be has not been granted, in the Township, unattended
and not under the immediate control of some responsible person able
to control the dog.
Any establishment where dogs are received, housed and distributed.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. II)]
No person shall keep, harbor or maintain any
dog of licensing age within the Township without first obtaining a
license therefor, to be issued by the Township Clerk upon application
by the owner and payment of the prescribed fee, and no person shall
keep, harbor or maintain any dog in the Township except in compliance
with the provisions of this article.
Any person who shall keep, harbor or maintain
a dog of licensing age shall, in the month of January or upon acquisition
thereof, and in the month of January annually thereafter, apply for
and procure from the Township Clerk or other official designated by
the Township Committee to license dogs in the Township a license and
official metal registration tag for each dog so owned, maintained,
kept or harbored and shall place upon each such dog a collar or harness
with the registration tag securely fastened thereto.
[Amended 5-13-1986 by Ord. No. 1986-5; at time of adoption
of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
The persons applying for the license and registration
tag shall pay the annual fee for such license of $10.80 for each dog,
plus $1.20 for state fees, for a total of $12 per dog per year. An
additional state fee of $3 shall be charged for each dog that has
not been spayed or neutered. The licenses, registration tags and renewals
thereof shall expire on January 31 in each year. There shall be a
late charge imposed in the amount of $10, in addition to the licensing
fee, for all applications submitted after January 31.
The owner of any newly acquired dog of licensing
age or of any dog which attains licensing age shall make application
for a license and registration tag for such dog and shall pay the
necessary fee for the same within 10 days after such acquisition or
age attainment.
Notwithstanding anything in this article to
the contrary, no person shall own, keep, harbor or maintain at any
one time within the limits of the Township more than five dogs of
licensing age, except in a kennel or pet shop and excepting dogs that
are held and confined in a shelter or pound under the provisions of
this article.
No person 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.
A.
License required. Any person who keeps or operates
or proposes to establish a kennel, a pet shop, a shelter or a pound
shall apply to the Clerk or other official designated to license dogs
in the Township for a license entitling him or her to keep or operate
such establishment.
B.
Application information. The application shall describe
the premises where the establishment is located or is proposed to
be located and the purpose or purposes for which it is to be maintained
and shall be accompanied by the written approval of the Zoning Officer
and the Board of Health of the Township, showing compliance with local
and state rules and regulations governing the location of and sanitation
at such establishment.
C.
License information; expiration; revocation. All licenses
issued for a kennel, pet shop, shelter or pound shall state the purpose
for which the establishment is maintained, and all such licenses shall
expire on January 31 of each year and be subject to revocation by
the Township on recommendation of the State Department of Health or
the Township Board of Health for failure to comply with the rules
and regulations of the State Department or local board governing the
same after the owner has been afforded a hearing by either the State
Department or local board.
D.
Transfer of license. Any person holding such license
shall not be required to secure individual licenses for dogs owned
by such licensee and kept at such establishment. The license shall
not be transferable to another owner or different premises.
E.
Fee for license. The annual license fee for a kennel
providing accommodations for 10 or fewer dogs shall be $10, and $25
for more than 10 dogs. The annual license fee for a pet shop shall
be $10. No fee shall be charged for a shelter or pound.
F.
Restriction. No dog kept in a kennel, pet shop, shelter
or pound shall be permitted off such premises except on a leash or
in a crate or other safe control.
A.
No person owning, keeping, maintaining or harboring
a dog shall permit, suffer or allow the dog to:
(1)
Run at large upon any of the public streets or roads
or upon any private property in the Township (except on the private
property of the person owning, keeping, maintaining or harboring any
such dog or on the private property of the person so giving permission)
unless such dog is accompanied by some responsible person able to
control the dog and is securely confined and controlled by an adequate
leash not more than six feet long; provided, nevertheless, that the
provisions of this subsection shall not apply in farming and hunting
areas of the Township.
(2)
Bark, cry, whine, howl or otherwise disturb the peace
or quiet of the neighborhood or the sleep of any person for any unreasonable
length of time.
(3)
Cause any injury to any person.
(4)
Do any damage to any lawn, shrubbery, flowers, grounds
or other property or run through or across any cultivated gardens
or fields.
(5)
Be or become a public nuisance or create a condition
hazardous to safety and health.
B.
The habitual barking, howling, whining or crying of
a dog or dogs in the Township of New Hanover is hereby declared to
be a disturbing noise within the meaning of N.J.S.A. 40:48-1, Subdivision
8, and a nuisance.
A.
No person owning, keeping, maintaining or harboring
any dog which has been known to be vicious by having previously attacked
or bitten any person shall permit such dog to be upon a public street
or highway or upon any premises other than those of the person owning
such dog or those of the person who has given permission to the owner
to keep or harbor such dog unless such dog wears a muzzle securely
fastened over his jaws in such manner that he cannot bite.
[Amended 8-11-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-3]
B.
Any dog which has attacked or bitten any human being
or has caused any person to be fearful for his own safety by chasing,
worrying or otherwise or which has habitually attacked other dogs
or domestic animals is hereby defined to be a vicious dog for the
purposes of this article, and upon complaint reciting such facts being
filed in the Municipal Court, the Municipal Judge, upon due notice
to the owner or other person having a property in such dog, if such
there be, shall thereupon cause a hearing to be held to determine
whether the dog complained against shall be adjudged a vicious dog.
In the event that the Municipal Judge, after hearing as aforesaid,
shall determine the dog to be a vicious dog within the meaning of
this article, the dog shall thereupon be prohibited from being upon
any street, road or public place in the Township unless securely muzzled
as hereinbefore set forth and under leash, or the Municipal Judge
shall make such order with respect to the disposition of the dog as
he shall deem consistent with the provisions of this article and in
the best interest of the health and welfare of the residents of the
Township.
[Amended 8-11-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-3]
The Township Committee is hereby empowered to
appoint an Animal Control Officer to enforce the provisions of this
article. The Township Committee shall also have the power to enter
into a contract with one or more persons, either individual or corporate,
to exercise the duties of Animal Control Officer and to enforce the
provisions of this article.
[Amended 8-11-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-3]
All police officers of the Township and the
Animal Control Officer, if any, are hereby given full power and authority
and are charged with the duty to enforce this article.
[Amended 8-11-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-3]
The Animal Control Officer or other designated
authority or any police officer of the Township shall take into custody
and impound or cause to be taken into custody and impounded, and thereafter
destroyed or disposed of as provided in this article:
A.
Any dog running at large or off the premises of the
owner or of the person keeping or harboring said dog or of the person
granting permission for said dog to be on his premises, in violation
of any of the provisions of this article, or which is committing a
nuisance or doing any injury or damage in violation thereof.
B.
Any dog off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring the dog or the person granting permission for
the dog to be on his premises which the Animal Control Officer or
any of the other persons charged with the enforcement of this article
believes is a stray dog.
C.
Any dog off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring the dog without a current registration tag on
his collar.
D.
Any female dog in season off the premises of the owner
or of the person keeping or harboring the dog, except when on a leash
and in the control of a responsible person capable of maintaining
such control.
E.
Any dog on the premises of the owner which is a public
nuisance or dangerous to public health and safety.
[Amended 8-11-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-3]
If any dog seized under the provisions of § 65-13 of this article wears a collar or harness having inscribed thereon or attached thereto the name and address of any person or a registration tag or the owner or the person keeping or harboring the dog is known, the Animal Control Officer or any official charged with the enforcement of this article or any person authorized by them or on their behalf shall forthwith serve on the person whose address is given on the collar or on the owner or the person keeping or harboring the dog, if known, a notice, in writing, stating that the dog has been seized and will be liable to be disposed of or destroyed if not claimed within seven days after service of the notice.
A notice under this article 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 post 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.
[Amended 8-11-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-3]
When any dog so seized has been detained for
seven days after seizure when no notice has been given as above set
forth or because of lack of the name and address of the owner and
if the owner or person keeping or harboring the dog has not claimed
the dog and paid all expenses incurred by reason of its detention
and if the dog is unlicensed at the time of seizure and the owner
or person keeping or harboring the dog has not produced or procured
a license and registration tag for the dog, the Animal Control Officer
or any person authorized by him in that behalf may cause the dog to
be destroyed in a manner causing as little pain as possible.
[Amended 5-13-1986 by Ord. No. 1986-5]
The expenses referred to in § 65-16 which shall be paid by the owner or person keeping or harboring a dog that has been impounded shall be $5 for impounding the dog and $2 per day for maintenance.
[Amended 8-11-1992 by Ord. No. 1992-3]
Any person who violates or who fails or refuses
to comply with this article shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding
$1,000, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days or a period
of community service not exceeding 90 days.
