[Adopted 2-8-2003 by Ord. No. 487]
For the purposes of this article, a person shall
be guilty of cruelty to a feline when the person:
A.
Subjects a domesticated feline to abandonment, cruel
mistreatment, cruel neglect, or inflicts or causes to be inflicted
upon a domesticated feline any form of cruelty or fails to provide
a domesticated feline with proper food, drink, shelter or protection
from the weather; or
B.
Subjects a feral feline to cruel mistreatment or inflicts
or causes to be inflicted any form of cruelty; or
C.
With cruel intention, captures, detains, transports,
removes or delivers any feline under false pretenses to any public
or private animal shelter, veterinary clinic or other facility, or
otherwise causes the same acts to be committed through acts of deception
or misrepresentation of the circumstances and disposition of any such
animal; or
D.
Intentionally or recklessly kills or injures any feline
whether belonging to the perpetrator or another; or
E.
Impounds, confines or causes to be impounded or confined
a living feline, and fails to supply it during such confinement with
proper feed, water, proper shelter or proper veterinary care.
A.
Any person, except the Delaware Humane Association,
the Delaware Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the
Dewey Beach Feral Cats Society or any agent of the State of Delaware,
County of Sussex or Town of Dewey Beach, who engages in the detainment
of or removal of feline animals from any public street or area within
the Town of Dewey Beach by trapping or any other methods, shall be
required to obtain a feline control license from the Town Manager's
Office and pay an annual license fee of $200.
B.
An application for a feline control license shall
contain, without limitation, the following:
(1)
Said license application shall list the principal
party together with all other persons authorized to engage in direct
trapping activity, assisting with trapping activity or supervisory
activity under the license. It shall be the sole responsibility of
the applicant to update the listed parties subject to the license
and to maintain the license's status as active, current and in good
standing.
(2)
Only those persons listed on the application shall
be authorized to engage in such activity.
(3)
Any person or employee thereof convicted of any animal
cruelty offense in any jurisdiction within the five-year period prior
to filing an application for licensing shall not be eligible for licensing.
(4)
Falsification of an application for a feline control
license shall be punishable by a fine of $500 and forfeiture of ability
to hold a feline control license or engage in any type of animal control
under a license held by another person within the Town limits for
a period of five years.
Once licensed, any person or employee thereof
convicted of cruelty or abandonment as defined in this article or
convicted of violating or is otherwise guilty of failing to strictly
comply with the procedures elaborated in this article shall be prohibited
from obtaining or maintaining any business licenses relating to the
control, possession, supervision, trapping or other activities involving
animals within the Town for a period of five years following said
conviction.
Consistent with 3 Del. C. § 7904 or
other applicable law, any agent of the Delaware Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, Delaware Humane Association, the Dewey Beach
Feral Cats Society or any agent of the State of Delaware, County of
Sussex or Town of Dewey Beach, or other state, county or municipal
agency so authorized, may impound a feline owned by or in the custody
or possession of a person charged with a violation of this article.
Any person engaging in the trapping or removal
of felines within the Town of Dewey Beach, except agents of the Delaware
Humane Association, the Delaware Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, the Dewey Beach Feral Cats Society or any agent of the
State of Delaware, County of Sussex or Town of Dewey Beach, shall,
without exception, recognize and conform to the following procedures:
C.
Prior to engaging in the trapping or removal of felines
within the Town of Dewey Beach, the person shall, no less than five
days prior to the commencement of said activity, provide the Town
with written notice of the exact location(s) and purpose of such proposed
activity and the dates and times during which such activity shall
be conducted.
D.
Post a public advisory in two local newspapers of
general circulation setting forth the exact location(s) and purpose
of such proposed activity and the dates and times during which such
activity shall be conducted. It shall be the sole responsibility of
the person or persons engaging in the trapping activity to confirm
that the public advisory notices were published no less than five
calendar days prior to the commencement of any activity.
E.
Traps and trapped animals.
(1)
Live traps shall be the only trapping method employed.
The utilization of leg traps shall, without exception, be prohibited.
(2)
No feline shall be left in a trap for a period in
excess of four hours.
(3)
Once placed, no trap shall be left unattended/unchecked
for a period in excess of four hours.
G.
Any person that fails to strictly comply with the
foregoing trapping procedures shall, in addition to any other remedies
at law, be:
All persons, without exception, shall, within
24 hours of a feline's capture, provide to the Town of Dewey Beach
a list itemizing each feline trapped, a description of the feline,
including the color, and the location and date of the trapping. A
sufficient number of copies of the list shall be determined by and
provided to the Town of Dewey Beach by the person to enable the filing
and posting of said list by the Town.
A.
In accordance with the laws of the State of Delaware,
authorized state, county and municipal authorities shall have the
power to initiate criminal and/or civil proceedings and shall also
have standing to seek the intervention of, review by, and subsequent
awards of relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to enjoin
and or prosecute any violation of this article.
B.
Where a feline is thus seized, the police officer
or agent is authorized to provide such care as is reasonably necessary,
and where any feline thus seized is, upon examination by a licensed
veterinarian, found to be disabled, injured or diseased beyond reasonable
hope of recovery, the police officer or agent is authorized to provide
for the humane destruction of the animal. In addition to any other
penalty provided by law, the authority imposing sentence upon a conviction
for such violation shall order the forfeiture or surrender of any
abused, neglected or deprived feline of the defendant to the Delaware
Humane Association, the Delaware Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, the Dewey Beach Feral Cats Society or any agent of the
State of Delaware, County of Sussex or Town of Dewey Beach, and shall
require that the defendant pay the cost of the keeping, care and/or
as may be necessary, the destruction of the animal.
C.
Unless otherwise established herein the following fines and penalties shall apply to § 60-8 of this article:
(1)
Cruelty shall, in addition to such other punishment
as is applicable under the laws of the State of Delaware, be punishable
by a fine of $250 for the first offense and $500 for the second and
each subsequent offense unless the person intentionally or recklessly
kills or causes serious injury to any feline in violation of this
subsection, in which case such action shall, in addition to such other
punishment as is applicable under the laws of the State of Delaware,
be punishable by a fine of $500 for each such offense.
(2)
Any person subject to the licensing procedures set
forth in this article that engages in any act or activity controlled
by the animal control licensing procedure prior to obtaining the proper
license shall, without exception, be subject to a fine of $500 and
shall further be prohibited from obtaining any business licenses relating
to the control, possession, supervision, trapping or other activities
involving animals within the Town of Dewey Beach as defined herein,
for a period of five years following said conviction.
(3)
Once obtained, the failure to maintain a license in
good standing or to maintain an accurately updated animal control
license shall result in a fine of $100 for each violation.
(4)
The fines set forth above shall be in addition to,
not in lieu of any other action(s) proscribed by law including, but
not limited to those actions addressed by and 3 Del. C. § 7904
and/or 11 Del. C. § 1325.
