(A) Unrestrained pets shall be taken by the police, animal control officers or humane officers and impounded in an animal shelter and there confined in a humane manner. The licensing authority shall make an attempt to notify the owner of an impounded licensed animal as soon as possible after the animal is impounded.
(B) An owner reclaiming an impounded animal shall pay an impoundment fee for the animal plus a kennel fee for each day the animal has been impounded. The day on which the animal is impounded shall count as one day and any part of any day during which the animal is impounded shall also count as a full day. The impoundment fee and kennel fee shall be as described in the Master Fee Schedule. In addition to any impoundment fee charged pursuant to any third and subsequent impoundment of this subsection, the city shall have the power and right to confiscate any and all animals subject to such impoundment.
(C) Unclaimed pound animals shall be kept for not less than five days.
(D) Any animal not reclaimed within five days shall become property of the local government authority, or humane society, and shall be placed for adoption in a suitable home or humanely destroyed.
(E) Stray animals that are roaming at large, remaining on private property without consent of the owner or tenant, or remaining on or frequenting public property, are deemed to be the property of the licensing authority. If such stray animal cannot be captured by a conventional means, every police or humane officer is authorized to use any means necessary to remove said animal.
(F) Prior to any impoundment by the police, animal control officers or humane officers pursuant to this section, such officer, upon confiscating an unrestrained pet, shall follow the procedures of the Nebraska Humane Society Free Ride Home Program, which allows animal control officers to return stray pets to their owners free of charge if the following conditions are met:
(1) The animal is found within one mile of its home;
(2) The animal is properly licensed;
(3) The animal is properly vaccinated; and
(4) There are no previous impounds on the animal.
(Ord. 2629, § 23, passed 9-9-1991; Ord. 3020, § 4, passed 7-12-1999; Ord. 3496, § 5, passed 3-9-2009; Ord. 3524, § 7, passed 7-27-2009)