(A) Any person having any knowledge of the existence of any rabies or the fact that any animal has bitten any other animal or person who shall fail to immediately report the information to the Akron Police Department or County Humane Officer is in violation of this section. It shall be the duty of the owner or caretaker of any dog or cat within the town to immediately notify the Town Marshal or Deputy Marshal, and the Fulton County Health Department, whenever his or her dog or cat has bitten any person within the town limits. Upon notification, the Marshal or Deputy Marshal or any other police officer or humane officer shall order the animal confined and held in observation for a period of not less than ten days. The animal must be isolated in strict confinement under proper care and observation in an approved place of confinement as follows:
(1) The Fulton County Animal Shelter;
(2) A veterinary hospital or licensed kennel; or
(3) Confinement on the owner's premises may be permitted only if the following conditions exist:
(a) The animal is protected by a current valid rabies vaccination and is currently licensed;
(b) The animal is in the low risk group of large farm animals such as a cow or horse or is a dog or cat under the age of four months;
(c) The animal is isolated in an occupied dwelling or under restraint at all times in a building or yard and is not roaming at large or in a yard without a fence high enough to make it difficult for children to enter, tight enough to keep a child's hands from entering and sound enough to keep the animal enclosed;
(d) The animal is not in contact with other animals or persons other than the person(s) providing care;
(e) The animal is kept under proper care with adequate and sanitary facilities;
(f) The animal is readily available for inspection by the Fulton County Humane Officer or Animal Control Officer;
(g) Dwellings which are habitually unoccupied during daylight hours are not acceptable for quarantine purposes;
(h) The quarantined animal may not be moved until the designated release date established by the Fulton County Humane Officer; and
(i) Examination shall be made by any police officer or Humane Officer of the quarantine quarters if the animal is quarantined on the owner's property and if the above stated requirements are not met the animal shall be taken from the property by the police officer or humane officer and impounded at the Fulton County Humane Shelter.
(B) Any animal which dies during the period of observation, or is killed subsequent to having bitten an individual or other animal and is suspected of being rabid, shall have its head removed, packed in an ice container and the head shall be forwarded immediately to the laboratory of the State Board of Health for examination. All expenses incurred for the keeping of the animal or the necessary tests to determine whether rabies exist shall be borne exclusively by the owner or keeper of the animal. If at the end of the ten day quarantine period a practicing Doctor of Veterinary Medicine is convinced that the animal is free of rabies, the animal shall be released from quarantine.
(`86 Code, § 3-5-14) (Ord. passed 7-17-84; Am. Ord. 86-C5, passed 7-15-86)