[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Florham Park 12-18-1990 by Ord. No. 16-90.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Dogs — See Ch. 108.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
Dog or cat.
Any person or agency designated or certified by the State
of New Jersey to enforce the provisions of this chapter.
Any member of the domestic feline species; male, female or
neutered.
Any cat which has attained the age of seven months or which
possesses a set of permanent teeth.
Any room or group of rooms, cage or exhibition pen, not part
of a kennel, wherein cats for sale are kept or displayed.
The Borough Clerk or other official designated by the Borough
Council to administer the issuance of licenses under the provisions
of this chapter.
Rendered permanently incapable of reproduction as certified
by a licensed veterinarian.
When applied to the proprietorship of a cat, includes every
person having a right of property (or custody) in such cat and every
person who has such cat in his/her keeping or who harbors or maintains
a cat or knowingly permits a cat to remain on or about any premises
occupied by that person.
Any individual, corporation, partnership, organization or
institution commonly recognized by law as a unit.
A.
Vaccination and license requirements. No person shall
own, keep or maintain any cat over seven months of age within the
Borough of Florham Park unless such cat is vaccinated and licensed.
The provisions of this section do not apply to cats held in a cattery
or those held by a state or federal licensed research facility or
a veterinary establishment where cats are received or kept for diagnostic,
medical, surgical or other treatments or licensed animals shelters,
pounds, kennels or pet shops.
B.
Vaccination. All cats shall be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian in accordance with the latest Compendium of Animal Rabies Vaccines and Recommendations for Immunization published by the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, except as provided for in Subsection D.
C.
Vaccination certificate. A certificate of vaccination
shall be issued to the owner of each animal vaccinated on a form recommended
by the state. The rabies vaccination certificate must be validated
through October 31 of the licensing year.
[Amended 12-16-2003 by Ord. No. 19-03]
D.
Exemptions. Any cat may be exempted from the requirements
of such vaccination for a specified period of time by the local Board
of Health, upon presentation of a veterinarian's certificate stating
that because of an infirmity or other physical condition or regimen
of therapy, the inoculation of such cat shall be deemed inadvisable.
A.
Cats must have license number displayed. Any person
who shall own, keep or harbor a cat of licensing age shall annually
apply for and procure from the Borough Clerk or other official designated
by the Council thereof to license cats in the Borough a license and
official registration tag with license number or a registration sleeve
for each cat owned, kept or harbored and shall place upon such cat
a collar or other device with the license number securely fastened
or displayed thereto. Acceptable methods of displaying license number
shall include but are not limited to break-away or elastic collars.
License tags or sleeves are not transferable to other cats. The number
of cats allowed per household is five.
[Amended 12-16-2003 by Ord. No. 19-03]
B.
Time for applying for license. All cats must be licensed
by January 31 of the licensing year. The owner of any newly acquired
cat of licensing age or of any cat which attains licensing age shall
make application for a license tag or sleeve for such cat within 10
days after such acquisition or age attainment. This requirement will
not apply to a nonresident keeping a cat within the Borough for no
longer than 30 days.
[Amended 12-16-2003 by Ord. No. 19-03]
C.
Cats brought into the Borough.
(1)
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought
into this Borough any cat licensed in another state for the current
year and bearing a registration tag or sleeve and who shall keep the
same or permit the same to be kept within the Borough for a period
of more than 30 days shall immediately apply for a license and registration
tag or sleeve for each such cat.
(2)
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought
into this Borough any unlicensed cat and who shall keep the same or
permit the same to be kept within the Borough for a period of more
than 10 days shall immediately apply for a license and registration
tag sleeve for each such cat.
D.
Application, contents, preservation of information.
The application shall state the breed, sex, age, color and markings
of the cat for which the 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 owner and the person who shall keep or
harbor such cat. The information on said application and the registration
number issued for the cat shall be preserved for a period of three
years by the Borough Clerk or other official designated to license
cats in the Borough.
E.
License forms and tags. License forms and official
tags or sleeves shall be furnished by the Borough and shall be numbered
serially and shall bear the year of issuance and the name Borough
of Florham Park.
F.
Evidence of inoculation with rabies vaccine or certification of exemption; requirement for license. There shall be no issuance of any such license or official registration tag or sleeve for any cat unless the owner thereof provides evidence that the cat to be licensed and registered has been inoculated with a rabies vaccine of a type approved by and administered in accordance with the recommendations of the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Human Services or has been certified exempt as provided by § 96-2 of this chapter. The rabies inoculation shall be administered by a duly licensed veterinarian or by such other veterinarian permitted by law to do the same.
G.
License fee schedule.
[Amended 9-20-1994 by Ord. No. 3-94; 12-16-2003 by Ord. No.
19-03; 9-19-2006 by Ord. No. 22-06]
(1)
Persons applying for the license and registration
tag shall pay the annual fee for such license of $21 for nonspayed
or nonneutered. The fee for all persons who present proof that their
cat has been neutered or spayed is $18. For each renewal, the fee
for the license shall be the same. There will be a $4 fee for replacement
of a lost tag or license. Such licenses and renewals thereof shall
expire on January 1 of each year.
[Amended 2-16-2023 by Ord. No. 23-03[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance provided that its updated fees
shall take effect in January of 2024.
(2)
Persons who fail to obtain a license as required by
January 31 of the licensing year shall be subject to a nonrefundable
delinquent fee of $15 per animal and subject to prosecution in the
Municipal Court of the Borough. Late fees will be effective as of
February 1 of the licensing year, and summonses will become effective
March 1 of the licensing year.
(3)
All contested summons fees are at the discretion of
the Municipal Judge. The fee(s) applies to owners who did not comply
by January 31 of the licensing year.
H.
Fees; renewals; expiration date of license.
(1)
Licenses from another municipality shall be accepted.
The person applying for the license and registration tag and/or sleeve
shall pay the fee fixed or authorized. The fee for the renewal of
a license and registration tag or sleeve shall be the same as for
the original, and said license, registration tag or sleeve and renewal
thereof shall expire on the last day of January in the following year.
(2)
Only one license and registration tag or sleeve shall
be required in the licensing year for any cat in this Borough. Any
valid New Jersey license tag or sleeve issued by a New Jersey municipality
shall be accepted by this Borough as evidence of compliance, provided
that such license was based upon proof of rabies inoculation.
I.
Loss of license. If a license tag or sleeve has been
misplaced or lost, the Borough Clerk may issue a duplicate license
and/or registration sleeve for that particular cat at a fee of $5.
J.
Proof of licensing. Proof of licensing shall be produced
by any person owning, keeping, maintaining or harboring a cat upon
the request of any health official, police officer, animal control
officer or other authorized person.
K.
Removal of tag forbidden; attaching tag wrongfully.
No person except an official in the performance of his/her duties
shall remove a registration tag from the collar of any cat without
the consent of the owner, nor shall any person attach a registration
tag to a cat for which it was not issued.
L.
Disposition of fees collected. License fees and other
moneys collected or received under the provisions of this chapter
shall be forwarded to the Borough Treasurer and shall be placed in
a special account separate from any of the other accounts of the Borough
and shall be used for the following purposes only: collecting, keeping
and disposing of cats liable to seizure, for local prevention and
control of rabies, providing antirabies treatment under the direction
of the local Board of Health for any person known or suspected to
have been exposed to rabies and for administering the provisions of
this chapter. Any unexpended balance remaining in such special account
shall be retained 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 said third fiscal year following, and at the end of
each fiscal year thereafter, there shall be transferred from 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 the special
account during the last two fiscal years next preceding.
No person shall hinder, molest or interfere
with anyone authorized or empowered to perform any duty under this
chapter.
A.
Seizure. The Pound Master, Dog Warden or Dogcatcher or other designated authority or any police officer of the Borough shall take into custody and impound or cause to be taken into custody and impounded and thereafter destroyed or disposed of as provided in Subsections B and C:
(1)
Any cat off the premises of the owner or of the person
keeping or harboring the cat, which the Dog Warden or any of the other
persons charged with the enforcement of this chapter has reason to
believe is a stray cat.
(2)
Any cat without a current registration tag on its
collar or any cat which the Dog Warden or any of the other persons
charged with the enforcement of this chapter has reason to believe
is diseased.
B.
Notice of seizure; contents; service.
(1)
If any cat so seized wears a collar having inscribed
thereon or attached thereto the name and address of any person or
a registration tag or if the cat has proper identification marking
as herein provided or if the owner or other person keeping or harboring
the cat is otherwise known, the Pound Master, Dog Warden or Dogcatcher
or any official charged with the enforcement of this chapter or any
person authorized by them on their behalf shall forthwith serve on
the person whose address is given on the collar or the person whose
name is registered as the owner, or on the owner or on the person
keeping or harboring the cat, if otherwise known, a notice in writing.
The notice shall state 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.
(2)
A notice under this section may be served 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.
C.
Destroying or disposing of cats. 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 no notice has been given as above set forth or because
of lack of name and address of owner, and if the owner or person keeping
or harboring the cat has not claimed the cat and paid all expenses
incurred by reason of its detention and if the cat is unlicensed at
the time of seizure and the owner or person keeping or harboring the
cat has not produced a license and registration tag for the cat, the
Pound Master, Dog Warden, Dogcatcher or other designated authority
or any person authorized by them in that behalf may cause the cat
to be destroyed in a manner causing as little pain as possible.
D.
Pound fee; maintenance charge. For every cat impounded,
there shall be detention expense charged in the amount of $5, which
shall include maintenance for the first calendar day. Thereafter there
shall be a maintenance charge for each cat so seized at the rate of
$2 per day. No owner or person keeping or harboring a cat shall be
permitted to claim an impounded cat unless a license and registration
tag can be produced for the cat.
No person shall abandon any cat, no matter what
its age may be, within the Borough.
Any officer or agent authorized or empowered
to perform any duty under this chapter is hereby authorized to go
upon any premises to seize for impounding any cat which he/she may
lawfully seize and impound when such officer is in immediate pursuit
of such cat, except within the premises of the owner of the cat if
the owner is present and forbids the same. In that situation, an appropriate
warrant may be obtained in the interest of the health, safety and
welfare of the Borough.
In addition to other penalties and sanctions
of this Code, any person who violates or who fails to refuse to comply
with this chapter shall be liable to a penalty of not less than $10
for each offense. to be recovered by and in the name of the Borough.
