Section
Subtitle 1. Definitions; General Provisions
12-4-101. Definitions.
12-4-102. Notices.
12-4-103. Injunctive relief.
12-4-104. Liability for subduing animal at large.
Subtitle 2. Animal Matters Commission
12-4-201. Commission established.
12-4-202. Composition; appointment; terms; compensation.
12-4-203. Chair; Executive Secretary; Secretary; Counsel.
12-4-204. Quorum.
12-4-205. Meeting and duties of Commission.
12-4-206. Hearings before Commission.
Subtitle 3. Animal Care and Control Agency and Officers
12-4-301. Enforcement of article.
12-4-302. Appointment and powers of Agency officers.
12-4-303. Recordkeeping by Agency.
12-4-304. Authority to charge; citation.
12-4-305. Elections available to person who receives citation.
12-4-306. Duties of individual issuing citation.
12-4-307. Duties of Agency on receiving citation.
12-4-308. Duties of Commission on receiving citation.
12-4-309. Disposition of citation filed with District Court.
12-4-310. Application for criminal summons or warrant.
12-4-311. Confidentiality of records of violations.
12-4-312. Interference with Agency officer prohibited.
Subtitle 4. Public Safety
12-4-401. Applicability.
12-4-402. Public safety threats; potentially dangerous, dangerous, and vicious animal criteria; defenses.
12-4-403. Potentially dangerous, dangerous or vicious animals; orders.
12-4-404. Authority to dispose of vicious animals.
12-4-405. Keeping of vicious animals prohibited.
12-4-406. Dangerous animal registry.
Subtitle 5. Impoundment of Animals
12-4-501. Authority to impound.
12-4-502. Right of entry.
12-4-503. Notice; holding period.
12-4-504. Redemption of impounded animals.
12-4-505. Disposition of animals.
Subtitle 6. Rabies Control
12-4-601. Vaccination of dogs and cats required.
12-4-602. Required reports – In general.
12-4-603. Required report by veterinarian.
12-4-604. Confirmed or highly likely cases of rabies.
12-4-605. Confinement of animals that bite humans.
12-4-606. Destruction or isolation of animals exposed to rabies.
12-4-607. Requirement for surrender of animal for destruction or quarantine.
12-4-608. Quarantine – Animal suspected of being exposed to rabies.
12-4-609. Quarantine – Animal diagnosed as having rabies.
12-4-610. Restrictions on killing or removing certain animals.
12-4-611. Surrender and disposal of dead animal exposed to rabies.
Subtitle 7. Licenses
12-4-701. Application.
12-4-702. Dog and cat licenses.
12-4-703. Dog fancier license.
12-4-704. Cat fancier license.
12-4-705. Commercial kennel license.
12-4-706. Pet shop license.
12-4-707. Grooming parlor license.
12-4-708. Petting zoo license.
12-4-709. Chicken and duck license.
12-4-710. Pet care business license.
12-4-711. Expiration, renewal, and revocation of certain licenses.
12-4-712. Notice of denial, nonrenewal, revocation, or suspension of license.
12-4-713. Appeals.
12-4-714. Effect of denial or revocation of license.
12-4-715. Enforcement of unappealed orders.
12-4-716. Nontransferability of licenses.
12-4-717. Burden of proof with respect to licensing.
Subtitle 8. Standards for Care and Keeping of Animals
12-4-801. Animals outdoors.
12-4-802. Food, water, and veterinary care required.
12-4-803. Animal fancier kennels.
12-4-804. Commercial kennels.
12-4-805. Pet shops; grooming parlors.
12-4-806. Petting zoos.
12-4-807. Pet care businesses.
12-4-808. Veterinary hospitals.
12-4-809. Severe weather emergencies and alerts.
Subtitle 9. Miscellaneous Provisions
12-4-901. Cruelty.
12-4-902. Keeping of wild animals, exotic animals, and vicious animals prohibited.
12-4-903. Creating public nuisance or public nuisance condition prohibited.
12-4-904. Animal disturbance prohibited.
12-4-905. Animals running at large prohibited.
12-4-906. Animals prohibited on school grounds and in public recreation areas.
12-4-907. Stray dogs and cats to be surrendered to County.
12-4-908. Intact dog or cat.
12-4-909. Removal of animal excreta.
12-4-910. Disposal of animal carcasses and sick animals.
12-4-911. Reporting of sale or disposition of animals.
12-4-912. Adopted animals – spaying or neutering fees; waiver of fees.
12-4-913. Reckless animal owner.
Subtitle 10. Civil Penalties
12-4-1001. Civil penalties.
SUBTITLE 1. DEFINITIONS; GENERAL PROVISIONS
In this title, the following words have the meanings indicated:
(1) "Agency" means the Animal Care and Control Agency.
(2) "Agency facility" means a facility owned or operated in the County by or under contract with the County for the care, confinement, disposition, or detention of animals.
(3) "Animal" means a vertebrate species of animal other than a human, including a dog, a cat, livestock, and fowl.
(4) "Animal Care and Control Agency" means the section in the Police Department directed by the Chief of Police or otherwise authorized by law to administer and enforce this article.
(5) "Animal exposed to rabies" means an animal that has been bitten by an animal that either has rabies or has been in proximity or contact with an animal that has rabies or has been exposed to an animal that has rabies.
(6) "Animal fancier kennel" means a private kennel maintained by a fancier on the fancier's premises for the maintenance or training of animals owned by the fancier.
(7) "Animal hospital" means an establishment maintained or operated by a veterinarian for immunization, hospitalization, surgery, or diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of disease and injuries of animals.
(8) "At large" means off the property of an animal's owner and not leashed and under the control of a responsible person.
(9) "Attack dog" means a dog trained to attack only on command or to protect human beings or property.
(11) "Cage" means an enclosure of limited space that is enclosed on the bottom, top, and sides and in which animals are placed.
(12) "Cat fancier" means an individual who owns or keeps on the individual's premises 10 or more cats.
(13) "Chief" means the Chief of Police or the designee of the Chief of Police.
(14) "Commercial establishment" means an establishment the primary function of which is the sale of a product or service.
(15) "Commercial kennel" means an animal boarding place or other establishment for the commercial breeding of dogs or cats, or the boarding, grooming, or sale of dogs or cats for which a fee is charged, but does not include a dog fancier's kennel or an animal hospital maintained by a licensed veterinarian as part of the practice of veterinary medicine for the treatment of animals.
(16) "Commission" means the Animal Matters Commission.
(17) "Community cat" means an unowned, free-roaming cat, 12 weeks of age or older who is cared for by one or more persons residing or working in the immediate area who are known or unknown. A community cat may or may not be feral.
(18) "Community cat caregiver" means a person or group that, in accordance with a good faith effort to conduct trap-neuter-return, provides food, shelter, and medical care to a community cat. A community cat caregiver is not the owner of a community cat.
(19) "Cruelty" means an act or omission by which unjustifiable physical pain, suffering, or death is caused or permitted, including a failure to provide proper drink, air, space, shelter, or protection from the elements, veterinary care, or nutritious food in sufficient quantity, a failure to employ the most reasonably humane method available with respect to an activity in which physical pain is necessarily caused, such as food processing, hunting, experimentation, or pest elimination, overdriving or overloading an animal, inflicting unnecessary suffering or pain on an animal, or any act prohibited by §§ 10-606, 10-607, or 10-608 of the Criminal Law Article of the State Code.
(20) "Dangerous animal" means an animal that has been designated as dangerous by the Agency.
(21) "Disposition" means placement of a pet in an approved home, humane administration or performance of euthanasia, or, in the case of a wild animal, release into a suitable habitat, but does not include selling or giving up an animal for commercial or experimentation purposes.
(22) "Dog fancier" means an individual who on residential property owns or keeps five or more dogs primarily as pets, but the keeping of the dogs primarily as pets may include noncommercial hunting or practice tracking, the breeding and sale of not more than two litters in a 12-month period, and the exhibiting of a dog in dog shows in field or obedience trials.
(23) "Domesticated animal" means an animal that by long-continued association with people has become thoroughly tame or domesticated, including a dog, cat, horse, mule, goat, cow, bull, pig, domestic fowl, or other animal that, by habit or training, lives in association with humans.
(24) "Eartipping" means the deliberate removal or no more than one-quarter of an inch from the tip of a community cat's left ear, performed by a licensed veterinarian while the cat is under anesthesia. Eartips shall be used to identify a community cat as being sterilized and vaccinated for rabies at least once, but does not serve as proof of a current rabies vaccination.
(25) "Exotic animal" means an animal introduced from another country and not indigenous to the State.
(26) "Facility" means a building or property other than a private residence in which an animal is maintained.
(27) "Farm" means land of 20 acres or more, all or part of which is used in commercial cultivation or for raising animals.
(28) "Feral cat" means a cat that shows no evidence of being owned, such as wearing a collar or tag or appearing groomed and exhibits savage or wild behavior or is living in the wild.
(29) "Grooming parlor" means a commercial operation for the bathing, dipping, cutting, or grooming of animals.
(30) "Healthful" means being in a condition appropriate to the particular species of animal involved that is hygienic and conducive to maintenance of the animal's well-being and to prevention of disease.
(31) "Keep" means to permit either feeding or sheltering an animal on the premises of the occupant or owner who permits it.
(32) "Minor injury" means any physical injury that is not a severe injury.
(33) "Obedience trained animal" means an animal demonstrably trained to obey on command, including to heel on or off a leash, obey a command to come to its owner, or sit, lie, and stand until further command.
(34) "Owner" means a person who keeps, has temporary or permanent custody of, possesses, exercises control over, or has a property right in any animal, livestock, or fowl, except that animal hospitals, commercial kennels, community cat caregivers, and pet shops and their employees are not owners.
(35) "Pet care business" means the temporary keeping of pets owned by others in a residence for a fee, including day care, boarding or training, but not pet grooming.
(36) "Pet shop" means a separate commercial establishment that offers to sell live animals with the intent that they be kept as pets.
(37) "Petting zoo" means a commercial establishment or activity a substantial purpose of which is to permit human beings to come into physical contact with animals.
(38) "Potentially dangerous animal" means an animal that has been designated as potentially dangerous by the Agency.
(39) "Public nuisance" means an act by an animal that substantially interferes with the rights of citizens to enjoyment of life or property and that unreasonably annoys humans, endangers the life or health of other animals or human beings, or offends human senses, including the molesting of pedestrians, the chasing of vehicles, the damaging of property of someone other than the owner of the animal, and continually and repeatedly howling, barking, whining, or otherwise making noise that causes unreasonable annoyance, disturbance, or discomfort to neighbors or others in close proximity to the premises where a person keeps an animal.
(40) "Public nuisance condition" means an unsanitary, dangerous, or offensive condition caused by the extreme size or number of animals kept on any premises or by the inadequacy of facilities or a continuing or periodically recurring public nuisance.
(41) "Quarantine" means confinement in a secure house, garage, or other escape-proof enclosure or structure.
(42) "Sanitary" means being in a condition of good order and cleanliness that precludes the probability of transmission of disease.
(43) "Severe injury" means any physical injury requiring professional medical treatment that is directly caused by an animal, and that results in multiple skin punctures, one or more muscle tears, dislocated or broken bones or disfiguring lacerations, significant impairment of an essential bodily function; or that requires corrective or cosmetic surgery or hospitalization.
(44) "Stray" means a domesticated animal off the property of its owner and not under the control of the owner or the authorized agent of the owner.
(45) "Supervised" means in direct observation of an owner.
(46) "Trap" means an animal-holding or animal-capturing device that is used for apprehending live animals and is approved by the Agency.
(47) "Trap-neuter-return" means the process of humanely trapping, sterilizing, vaccinating for rabies, eartipping, and returning a community cat to their original location, and includes a plan for revaccination of the community cat in accordance with State law.
(48) "Vicious animal" means an animal that has been designated as vicious by the Agency.
(49) "Wild animal" means an animal that is not a domesticated animal.
(1985 Code, Art. 12, § 1-101) (Bill No. 29-91; Bill No. 83-94; Bill No. 67-98; Bill No. 20-00; Bill No. 41-01; Bill No. 11-07; Bill No. 44-14; Bill No. 59-17; Bill No. 96-17; Bill No. 50-18; Bill No. 90-18; Bill No. 87-20; Bill No. 89-20)
Any notice requirement established in this title may be satisfied by personal delivery, by forwarding by certified mail, delivery restricted to the licensee, at the address shown on the license application on file with the Agency, or by posting the notice on the front door or in a conspicuous place on the property of the person to be served. If the person to be served has a known address outside of Anne Arundel County, the notice requirement may be satisfied in the same way as service within the County or by the Agency sending the notice by regular mail to the person's last known address and electronic mail to the person's electronic mail address. Service by electronic mail shall be complete upon the notice being successfully sent and not returned as undeliverable.
(1985 Code, Art. 12, § 1-102) (Bill No. 90-18)
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