No person shall, own, keep, harbor, or have custody of any animal over three months of age, within the City except upon properties zoned "farming" or approved for such use by proper zoning amendment, special use, or other approval pursuant to the ordinances of the City, except that this section shall not apply to the keeping of cats, small cage-birds or aquatic and amphibian animals solely as pets, or to the registration of dogs as provided in § 166-5.
[Amended 6-6-2023 by Ord. No. 7932]
A.Â
No animal
shall be permitted, except on a leash, to use or be upon any public
street, sidewalk, parkway or public place.
B.Â
No owner
of an animal shall fail to control such animal on the owner's property
through the means of a leash, fence or the immediate control of a
responsible person to whose hand or voice commands the animal is obedient.
[Amended 2-20-2007 by Ord. No. 6161; 6-6-2023 by Ord. No. 7932]
Unrestrained or unleashed dogs running at large may be taken by Police or the County Animal Control Officer and impounded in accordance with the McHenry County article (Article 6, Section 8.04.870, Public nuisance) regulating animal control.
An owner reclaiming an impounded animal shall
pay a fee established by the county.
Notwithstanding the provisions of Article III, if an animal is found at large and its owner can be identified and located, such animal need not be impounded but may, instead, be taken to the owner.
No owner shall fail to exercise proper care
and control of his/her animals to prevent them from becoming a public
nuisance. Excessive, continuous or untimely barking, molesting passersby,
chasing vehicles, habitually attacking other domestic animals, trespassing
upon school grounds, or trespassing upon private property in such
manner as to damage property shall be deemed a nuisance. A separate
offense shall be deemed committed on each day during or on which a
violation occurs or continues.
An owner or person having custody of any dog
or any other animal shall not permit said dog or any other animal
to defecate on any school ground, public street, alley, sidewalk,
tree bank, park or any other public grounds or any private property
within the City, other than the premises of the owner or person having
custody of said dog or other animal, unless said defecation is removed
immediately by the owner or person having custody of the dog or other
animal to a proper receptacle located on the property of the owner
or the person having custody of the dog or other animal.
No owner shall fail to provide animals with
sufficient good and wholesome food and water, proper shelter and protection
from the weather, veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering,
and with humane care and treatment. No person shall beat, cruelly
ill-treat, torment, overload, overwork, or otherwise abuse any animal,
or cause or permit any dogfight, cockfight, bullfight or other combat
between animals or between animals and humans. No owner of an animal
shall abandon such animal. No person shall crop a dog's ears except
when a licensed veterinarian issues a signed certificate that the
operation is necessary for the dog's health or comfort, and in no
event shall any person except a licensed veterinarian perform such
an operation.
No pet shop may sell chickens or ducklings younger
than eight weeks of age in quantities of less than 25 to a single
purchaser.
No police officer or other person shall kill,
or cause to be killed, any animal suspected of being rabid, except
after the animal has been placed in quarantine and the diagnosis of
rabies made by a licensed veterinarian. If a veterinarian diagnoses
rabies in an animal in quarantine, then the animal shall be humanely
killed and the head of such animal sent to a laboratory for pathological
examination and confirmation of the diagnosis.
