(A) Animal Defined. As used in this section, “animal” means any living creature, domestic or wild.
(B) Quarantine of Biting Animal. Any animal which bites or scratches a person shall be immediately reported to the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist and shall thereupon be securely quarantined at the direction of the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist for a period of ten days and shall not be released from such quarantine except by written permission of the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist or under his direction. At the discretion of the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist, such quarantine may be on the premises of the owner, at the shelter designated as the City Pound or, at the owner’s option and expense, in a veterinary hospital of his choice. In the case of stray animals, or in the case of animals whose ownership is not known, such quarantine shall be at the shelter designated as the City Pound.
(C) Duty of Owner to Surrender Animal; Redemption. The owner, upon demand by the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist, shall forthwith surrender any animal which has bitten a human, or which is suspected as having been exposed to rabies, for supervised quarantine, the expense of which shall be borne by the owner. The animal may be reclaimed by the owner if it is adjudged free of rabies, upon payment of fees determined therefor by Council from time to time.
(D) Imposition of Area-Wide Quarantine. When a report indicates a positive diagnosis of rabies, the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist may order an area-wide quarantine for a period of sixty days, and upon the invoking of such quarantine no person shall take a pet animal into the streets, or permit a pet animal to be in the streets, during such period of quarantine. During such quarantine, no person shall take or ship an animal from the city without permission of the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist.
(E) Vaccination. During an area-wide quarantine period and as long thereafter as the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist deems necessary to prevent the spread of rabies, he may require that all dogs three months of age and older shall be vaccinated against rabies. All vaccinated dogs shall be restricted by leashing or confinement on enclosed premises for thirty days after vaccination. During the quarantine period, the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist is hereby authorized to provide for a program of mass immunization by the establishment of temporary emergency canine rabies vaccination clinics strategically located throughout the area of health jurisdiction.
(F) Redemption of Strays Restricted. No animal which has been impounded, by reason of its being a stray or unclaimed by its owner, shall be allowed to be adopted from any animal shelter during the period of rabies emergency quarantine, except by special authorization of the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist.
(G) Destruction and Isolation of Bitten Animals. Animals bitten by a known rabid animal shall be immediately destroyed or, if the owner is unwilling to destroy the exposed animal, strict isolation of the animal in a kennel, designated by the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist, for six months shall be enforced. If the animal has been previously vaccinated, within time limits established by the public health service based on the kind of vaccination used, revaccination and restraint by leashing and confinement for thirty days shall be carried out.
(H) Extension of Quarantine. If there are additional cases of rabies occurring during any period of area- wide quarantine, such period of quarantine may be extended for an additional period of time.
(I) Destruction and Removal of Rabid Animals. 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, or remove such animal from the city without written permission from the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist.
(J) Surrender of Carcass. The carcass of any dead animal exposed to rabies shall be surrendered to the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist upon demand.
(K) Failure to Obey Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist. No person shall fail or refuse to surrender any animal for quarantine or destruction as required herein when demand is made therefor by the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist.
(L) Report of Bite Cases. It shall be the duty of every physician or other medical practitioner to report to the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist the names and addresses of persons treated for bites inflicted by animals, together with such other information as will be helpful in rabies control.
(M) Report of Suspected Cases. It shall be the duty of every licensed veterinarian to report to the Municipal Environmental Maintenance Specialist any animal considered by him to be a rabies suspect.
(Ord. 55-92, passed 6-15-1992)