§ 12.105 REGULATIONS REGARDING POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS ANIMAL.

   (a)   Determination of potentially dangerous animal . A city animal control officer or other law enforcement official shall determine that an animal is a potentially dangerous animal if the officer believes, based upon the officer’s professional judgment, that an animal:

      (1)   Has, when unprovoked, inflicted bites on a human or domestic animal on public or private property;

      (2)   Has, when unprovoked, chased or approached a person , including a person on a bicycle, upon the streets, sidewalks or any public or private property, other than the animal owner’s property, in an apparent attitude of attack; or

      (3)   Has known propensity, tendency or disposition to attack unprovoked, causing injury or otherwise threatening the safety of humans or domestic animals .

   (b)   Notice of potentially dangerous animal . Upon a determination by a city animal control officer or other law enforcement official that an animal is potentially dangerous pursuant to state law or subsection (a) above, the city shall provide a notice of potentially dangerous animal (“notice”) to the owner of the animal by mailing or personally serving the owner of record, or by posting a copy of the notice at the place where the animal is kept, or by delivering it to a person of suitable age residing on that property. Service upon any owner shall be effective as to all owners . The notice shall include the following:

      (1)   A description of the animal deemed to be potentially dangerous ;

      (2)   The factual basis for that determination;

      (3)   The identity of officer who has made the determination;

      (4)   An order that the owner have a microchip implanted in the animal for identification and provide the city animal control authority with the name of the microchip manufacturer and the serial identification number of the microchip implanted within 30 days of the date of service;

      (5)   An order that the owner provide the city animal control authority with written notice of any relocation of the animal from its current residence, providing any new owner’s full name, address, daytime and evening telephone numbers and the relocation address at least ten days prior to any such relocation or new ownership;

      (6)   The criminal penalties for violation of the requirements pertaining to potentially dangerous animals ;

      (7)   A statement informing the owner of the owner’s right to appeal the officer’s potentially dangerous animal determination within 14 days from the date of the notice was served in the manner set forth at subsection (c) below;

      (8)   A statement informing the owner that failure to serve a timely appeal will terminate the owner’s right to a hearing under this section;

      (9)   A statement that even if a timely appeal is made, the owner must nonetheless immediately comply with the requirements of subsection (d) below, except the requirement to microchip the animal, until such time as the administrative law judge issues an opinion;

      (10)   A statement that in the event that the potentially dangerous animal determination is upheld by the administrative law judge, the actual expenses of the hearing, up to a maximum amount as set forth in City Code Appendix A, will be the responsibility of the owner ;

      (11)   A statement that all the city’s actual costs of the care, keeping and disposition of the animal are the responsibility of the person claiming an interest in the animal, except to the extent that an administrative law judge finds that the seizure or impoundment was not substantially justified by law; and

      (12)   A form by which an owner may appeal the determination that the animal is potentially dangerous .

   (c)   Appeal of the potentially dangerous dog designation. Within 14 days of the date the notice as served, an owner may request an appeal of that determination by completing the process described in § 12.106(e) of the code and make payment as set forth in City Code Appendix A towards the cost of the hearing. The hearing procedure is set forth in § 12.106(f) of this code.

   (d)   Requirements. It shall be the joint responsibility of each owner of any animal kept or harbored within the city and determined to be potentially dangerous under this section of the code or under the provisions of a substantially similar local or state law to have a microchip implanted in the animal for identification and provide the city animal control authority with proof thereof, including the name of the microchip manufacturer and its serial identification number, within 30 days of any owner’s receipt of the notice of potentially dangerous animal or within ten days of the animal’s location within the city, whichever occurs first. It shall also be the joint and several responsibility of each owner of any potentially dangerous animal kept or harbored within the city to provide the city animal control authority with written notice of any intended relocation of the animal from its current residence and provide any new owner’s full name, address, daytime and evening telephone numbers and the relocation address at least ten days prior to any such relocation or new ownership.

(Ord. 2010-28, passed 11-1-2010; Ord. 2012-3, passed 2-6-2012; Ord. 2021-39, passed 11-29-2021)