(A) Every animal which bites a person shall be promptly reported to the Animal Control Officer and shall thereupon be securely quarantined at the direction of the Animal Control Officer for a period of ten (10) days at the Boyd County Animal Shelter or other site selected by the city and shall not be released from such quarantine except by written permission of the Animal Control Officer upon complying with payments of license fees and quarantine costs. Solely at the discretion of the Animal Control Officer, such quarantine may be at a veterinary hospital approved by the Animal Control Officer if the animal is sick or injured. In the case of stray animals, or in the cases of animals whose ownership is not known, such quarantine shall be at the Boyd County Animal Shelter, or other site selected by the city.
(B) The owner, upon demand made by the Animal Control Officer, shall forthwith surrender any animal which has bitten a human or which is suspected of having been exposed to rabies for supervised quarantine, which expense shall be borne by the owner and may be reclaimed by the owner, if adjudged free of rabies, upon payment of fees set forth in this subchapter.
(C) When an animal under quarantine has been diagnosed as being rabid, or suspected by a licensed veterinarian as being rabid, and dies while under such observation, the Animal Control Officer shall immediately send the head of such animal to the State Health Department of pathological examination and shall notify the proper public health officer of reports of human contacts with the diagnosis made of the suspected animal.
(D) When one or both reports give a positive diagnosis of rabies, the Animal Control Officer shall recommend a city-wide quarantine for a period of thirty (30) days and upon the invoking of such quarantine, no dog or cat shall be taken into the streets or permitted to be in the streets during such period of quarantine.
(E) During such period of rabies quarantine as herein mentioned, every animal bitten by an animal adjudged to be rabid shall be forthwith destroyed, or, at the owner's option and expense, shall be treated for rabies infection by a licensed veterinarian, or held under thirty (30) days quarantine by the owner.
(F) In the event there are additional positive cases of rabies occurring during the period of the quarantine, such period of quarantine may be extended for an additional period of time, not to exceed six (6) months.
(G) No person shall kill, or cause to be killed, any rabid animal, any animal suspected of having been exposed to rabies, or any animal biting a human, except as herein provided, nor remove same from the city limits without written permission from the Animal Control Officer.
(H) The carcass of any dead animal exposed to rabies shall, upon demand, be surrender to the Animal Control Officer.
(I) The Animal Control Officer shall direct the disposition of any animal found to be infected with rabies.
(J) No person shall fail or refuse to surrender any animal for quarantine or destruction as required herein when demand is made therefore by the Animal Control Officer.
(Ord. 194, 2021, passed 12-10-21) Penalty, see § 90.99
Statutory reference:
Authority to regulate rabies control program, see KRS 258.087