[Adopted 12-18-1984 as Ch. 6 of
the 1984 Code]
As used in this Article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
The common domesticated carnivorous quadruped Felis domestica.
Persons living together as a single nonprofit housekeeping
unit, living and cooking together, whose relationship exhibits a kind
of stability, permanency and functional life-style which is equivalent
to that of the traditional family unit, as distinguished from fraternities
and sororities, societies, clubs, associations, lodges, halfway houses,
shelters and other forms of specialized communal living of a transient
nature.[1]
Any person, group, family group or corporation, company,
association, society, firm, partnership, joint-stock company or any
other business entity, as well as an individual who gives refuge,
shelter or protection to any cat or who shall maintain, tend or keep
any cat.
When applied to the proprietorship of a cat, every person
having a right or property in such cat and to include every person
who has such cat in his or her keeping.
Within the purview of this Article, a cat shall be considered
a "public nuisance" if it has no known owner, harborer, keeper or
custodian or if it has no known place of care or shelter or if it
trespasses upon or damages either private or public property or annoys
or harms lawful users or occupants thereof.
It shall be unlawful to own, harbor, keep or
maintain a cat of more than six months of age in the Borough of Bay
Head unless the owner thereof or the harborer, custodian, keeper or
person maintaining the same shall have complied with the provisions
hereof.
No more than three cats shall be sheltered,
owned or kept by any one family group or owner, harborer, custodian,
keeper or person maintaining same.
The quarters where cats are kept shall be clean
and sanitary and such as not to create a health hazard nor disturbance
by reason of noise, odor or other causes.
A.
It shall be unlawful to own, harbor, keep or maintain
a cat of more than six months of age, unless the owner, harborer,
custodian, keeper or person maintaining the same shall have a valid
license for such cat, which license shall be issued by the Police
Department upon application by the owners, harborer, custodian, keeper
or person maintaining said cat or cats and payment of the prescribed
fee.
B.
Any person who shall own, keep, harbor or maintain
a cat of licensing age shall, in the month of January and annually
thereafter, apply for and procure from the Police Department a license
and official registration tag for each such cat so owned, kept, harbored
or maintained and shall place upon each such cat a collar or harness
with the registration tag securely fastened thereto.
C.
The person applying for the license and registration
tag shall pay fees for each neutered or sterilized cat and for each
cat which is not neutered or sterilized, as set forth in the fee schedule
on file in the Municipal Clerk's office. Satisfactory evidence of
neutering or sterilizing shall be produced at the time of application.
The fees for annual renewal of the license and the registration tag
shall be the same as for the original license and tag. The licenses,
registration tags and the renewals shall expire on the last day of
January of each year.[1]
D.
Only one license and registration tag shall be required
in any licensing year for any cat owned in New Jersey and such license
and tag shall be accepted by the Borough of Bay Head as compliance
with this section.
E.
The owner, custodian, keeper, or person harboring
or maintaining any newly acquired cat of licensing age or of any cat
which attains licensing age shall make application for license and
registration tag for such cat within 10 days after such acquisition
or age attainment.
F.
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 owners, harborer, custodian,
keeper or person maintaining such cat. The information of said application
and registration number issued shall be preserved for a period of
three years by the Clerk or other local official designated to license
cats in the Borough of Bay Head.
G.
No license shall be issued or granted nor shall any
official registration tag be issued or granted for any cat unless
the owner, harborer, custodian or person maintaining same provides
evidence that the cat to be licensed and registered has been innoculated
with a rabies vaccine of a type approved by and administered in accordance
with the regulation of the United States Department of Health, Education
and Welfare or has been certified exempt as provided by the regulations
of the State Department of Health. Such vaccination shall be repeated
at intervals as provided by the regulations of the State Department
of Health and shall be administered by a duly licensed veterinarian
or by such veterinarian permitted by law to do the same.
A.
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought
into the Borough of Bay Head any cat licensed in another state for
the current year and bearing a registration tag and who shall keep
the same or permit the same to be kept within the Borough of Bay Head
for a period of more than 90 days shall immediately apply for a license
and registration tag for each such cat.
B.
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought
into the Borough of Bay Head any unlicensed cat and shall keep the
same or permit the same to be kept within the borough limits for a
period of more than 10 days shall immediately apply for a license
and registration tag for each such cat.
No person except an officer in the performance
of his duty shall remove or cause to be removed a registration tag
from the collar of any cat without the consent of the owner, harborer,
keeper or person maintaining same, nor shall any person attach or
cause to be attached a registration tag to a cat for which it has
not been issued.
A.
Licenses fees and other moneys collected or received
under the provisions of this Article shall be forwarded to the Treasurer
of the Borough of Bay Head within 30 days after collection or receipt
and shall be placed in a special account separate from any other accounts
of the borough and shall be used for the following purposes only:
(1)
For collecting, keeping and disposing of cats liable
to seizure under this Article;
(2)
For local prevention and control of rabies;
(3)
For providing anti-rabic treatment under the direction
of the Mayor and Council for any person known or suspected to have
been exposed to rabies;
(4)
For all other purposes prescribed by statutes of New
Jersey governing the subject; and
(5)
For administering the provisions of this Article.
B.
Any unexpended balance remaining in such special account
shall be retained therein until 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 borough any
amount then in such account which is in excess of the total amount
paid into said special account during the last two fiscal years preceding.
A.
The Chief of Police of the Borough of Bay Head and
any police officer designated for that purpose by said Chief of Police,
the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and/or similar
organization designated by said Chief of Police or any animal control
unit entity contracted with by the Borough of Bay Head shall take
into custody and impound or cause to be taken into custody or impounded
and thereafter destroyed or disposed of as provided in this section:
(1)
Any cat off the premises of the owner, keeper or person
harboring or maintaining said cat, which said official or his agent
or agents have reason to believe is a stray cat.
(2)
Any female cat in season off the premises of the owner,
keeper or person harboring or maintaining said cat.
(3)
Any cat which constitutes a public nuisance as defined
hereunder.
(4)
Any cat which, upon complaint by one or more residents,
shall be habitually bothering, disturbing or causing annoyance to
said resident or residents.
B.
If any cat so seized wears a collar, harness, registration
tag or some other identification having inscribed thereon or attached
thereto the name and address of any person or of the owner or the
person keeping or harboring said cat is known, the Chief of Police
shall forthwith serve on the person whose address is given on the
collar or on the owner or the person keeping or harboring said cat,
if known, a notice, in writing, stating that the cat has been seized
and will be liable to be disposed of or destroyed if not claimed within
seven days after the service of the notice.
C.
A notice under this section 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 place of abode or to the address
given on the collar.
When any cat so seized has been detained for
seven days after notice, when notice can be given as above set forth,
or has been detained for seven days after seizure, when notice has
not been and cannot be given as above set forth, and if the owner,
harborer, custodian, keeper or person maintaining said cat has not
claimed said cat nor paid all expenses incurred by reason of its seizure
and detention, including maintenance at the prevailing rates charged
per day, said Chief of Police and/or the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals or any animal control unit or entity contracted
with by the Borough of Bay Head and/or any similar organization and/or
any person designated for the purpose may cause said cat to be destroyed
in a humane manner, causing as little pain as possible.
In addition to the above powers, any constable,
special officer or police officer designated by the Chief of Police
shall have the power to kill any cat found within the borough which
cannot be captured, apprehended or impounded by such officer if, in
the judgment of said constable, special officer of police officer,
such act of killing is necessary to protect the health, welfare, safety,
peace and quiet of the borough or its residents, provided that this
power shall not effect or permit the killing of any cat while on the
premises of the owner, harborer or keeper without the permission of
said owner, harborer, keeper, custodian or person maintaining same.
No person who owns, keeps, harbors, is the custodian
of or maintains any cat shall permit or suffer it to do any damage
to any person, fowl or domestic animal or permit or suffer it to do
any damage to or to soil or defile any lawn, shrubbery, garden, flowers,
grounds or property of any person other than the person owning, keeping,
harboring or maintaining such cat.
Any cat which bites a person shall be quarantined
for 10 days if ordered by the Chief of Police. During quarantine,
the animal shall be securely confined and kept from contact with any
other animal, and the owner, harborer, custodian, keeper or person
shall maintain the same animal for the quarantine period to an animal
shelter or shall, at his own expense, place it in a veterinary hospital.
No police officer or other person shall kill
or cause to be killed any animals suspected or 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 diagnoses.
No person shall abandon any cat, no matter what
its age may be, within the Borough of Bay Head.
[Amended 11-19-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-5]
The Chief of Police of the Borough of Bay Head
and his subordinates or any Animal Control Officer shall be responsible
for the enforcement of the provisions of this Article. No person shall
hinder, molest or interfere with anyone authorized or empowered to
perform any duty under this Article.
[Amended 6-1-1993 by Ord. No. 1993-6; 11-19-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-5]
Unless otherwise provided herein, any person,
firm or corporation that shall be convicted of a violation of a provision
of this Article shall, upon conviction whereof by any court authorized
by law to hear and determine the matter, be subject to a fine not
exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days
or a period of community service not exceeding 90 days, or any combination
thereof, as such court, in its discretion, may impose. Each day that
such violation exists shall constitute a separate offense.
If any person is convicted of a violation of § 69-15 et seq. of this Article, the Chief of Police or any police officer of the Borough of Bay Head designated for that purpose may enter the household, premises or abode of the person so convicted and cause to be removed all unlicensed cats which shall be disposed of in accordance with §§ 69-24 and 69-25 hereof.
