Violation of this Chapter shall be punishable by an administrative or infraction citation, as a public nuisance or by any other legal means available. All costs and fines collected under this Chapter shall be paid to the contracted animal control agency for the purpose of defraying the cost of the implementation and enforcement of this program
(a) An administrative citation, infraction, or other such authorized penalty may be issued to an owner of an unaltered dog or cat for a violation of this Chapter only when the owner is concurrently cited for another violation under State law or this Code. Examples of violations include, but are not limited to, failure to possess a current rabies vaccination; failure to license a dog; leash law violations; kennel or cattery permit violations; tethering violations; unhealthy or unsanitary conditions; failure to provide adequate care for an animal; operating a business without a license and/or lack of State Tax ID Number; fighting dog activity in violation of Penal Code Section 597.5; animals left unattended in motor vehicles; potentially dangerous, dangerous or vicious animals; or noisy animals.
(b) Should the owner of an unaltered dog or cat be found in violation of a State or this Code, the owner shall be required to spay or neuter the unaltered animal in accordance with this Chapter or purchase an unaltered license but shall also be required to pay the spay or neuter violation.
(c) When an impounded dog or cat is without microchip identification, in addition to satisfying applicable requirements for the release of the animal, including but not limited to payment of impound fees the owner shall also do one of the following:
(1) Have the dog or cat implanted with an approved microchip by contracted animal control agency personnel at the expense of the owner;
(2) Have the dog or cat implanted with an approved microchip by a veterinarian. The owner or custodian shall pay the contracted animal control agency the cost to deliver the dog or cat to the veterinarian. Within ten days, the veterinarian shall complete and return to the contracted animal control agency a statement confirming that the microchip has been implanted and its number and shall release the dog or cat to the owner only after the procedure is complete; or
(3) At the discretion of the Animal Control Officer, the dog or cat may be released to the owner if he or she signs a statement under penalty of perjury, representing that the dog or cat will be implanted with a microchip and that he or she will submit a statement within ten days of the release, signed by a veterinarian, confirming that the dog or cat has been so implanted and the microchip number, and allow the department to scan the dog or cat for the microchip to verify.
(d) Fees for microchip identification device. The fee for an approved identifying microchip device shall be included in the cost of adoption when adopting a dog or cat from an animal shelter operated by the contracted animal control agency. If an animal has already been implanted with an identifying microchip device by some other facility, there will be no fee to have the identification microchip number entered into the contracted animal control agency registry.
(Ord. 181, passed 5-1-2019)