(A) Circumstances requiring special preventive measures. Any police officer or designated employee of the town shall have the authority to require the owner or custodian of a dog to comply with specific preventive measures, as described below in division (B), after taking into consideration the following three circumstances. This provision shall not limit the authority of the Department of Public Safety to declare any animal vicious and order its removal from the town limits as provided in § 81.26 of the town code:
(1) Nature of the particular dog. The behavior, size, temperament, breed, capacity for inflicting serious injury, the number of dogs or other such similar factors which would be relevant to a determination of whether or not additional preventive measures need to be imposed for a particular situation;
(2) Adequacy of confinement. The adequacy of the enclosure or confinement, if any; and
(3) Immediate surrounding area. The likelihood that the conditions pertaining to the particular dog and the dog’s confinement are detrimental to the safety or welfare of citizens or the peace and tranquillity of citizens in the immediate surrounding area. In considering whether to order a special preventive measure, a police officer or designated employee of the town is authorized to consider additional factors as aggravating circumstances that might warrant the ordering of special preventive measures:
1. Children. There is a child under the age of majority who lives in such close proximity, or children walk by or are otherwise in close proximity, to the property occupied by the dog;
2. Bite. The dog has bitten a human being or domestic animals without provocation or without a trespass, and the person bitten does not ordinarily reside on the premises;
3. Dog trained for fighting or aggressive attack. The dog is kept primarily or in part for the purpose of dogfighting or the dog has been framed for aggressive attacks;
4. Attitude of attack incident. A dog, without provocation or a trespass, has approached a person in an apparent attitude of attack;
5. Reputation of a dog. The individual dog has a known propensity, reputation or tendency or disposition to attack unprovoked, to cause injury or to otherwise endanger the safety of human beings or domestic animals; or
6. Dangerous animals. Any animal whose behavior constitutes a reasonable risk of injuring a human or animal or damaging personal property. That behavior includes, but is not limited to, an animal’s biting or attacking or attempting to attack a human or another animal. However, this definition shall not apply to any animal that has been subject to provocation or if the victim has been trespassing, as defined herein, upon the animal owner’s premises.
(B) Preventive measures.
(1) If the police or a designated employee of the town determines that the circumstances require special preventive measures, then the Department of Public Safety shall have the authority to require appropriate, specific preventive measures which might include, but are not limited to, the following: necessary repairs for any fence or enclosure, measures to ensure that a gate will remain closed, a “fence” or “secure dog fence” as described below or any other similar devise such as electronic electric fence that would provide greater assurance for the confinement of the dog, all of which are subject to being specifically approved for then adequacy by the Department of Public Safety.
(2) A fence shall be at least a minimum of four feet high and constitute a secure enough enclosure sufficient to contain the dog at all times. The minimum size of the enclosure may be at least 120 square feet. If the dog is over 15 inches at the shoulder or deemed capable of climbing a standard four-foot fence, then the police or designated employee of the town may require a six-foot fence or may require up to 160 square feet enclosure. The location of the enclosure shall be at the approval of the Department of Public Safety. It shall be in compliance with all other development regulations inclusive of zoning. A secure dog fence means a fence, as immediately described above, that may also be enclosed on all six sides including the top. The bottom may be concrete unless the sides of the fence are buried one foot deep in a hard packed soil. Any reference to “fence” or “secure dog fence” shall be defined as stated immediately above. The Department of Public Safety shall have the authority to require the owner to procure liability insurance in the amount of at least $100,000 at the owner’s expense, or to display a sign on the premises warning of the dog on the premises. The Department shall have the authority to require the owner to show signed written statements about maintaining the liability insurance, the designated enclosure for the dogs and the duty to notify the Department of Public Safety if the dog escapes, and to require the owner to give the Department of Public Safety the authority to seize and impound the dog if the owner fails to comply with the provisions. The police or a designated employee of the town shall have the authority to waive any or all of these requirements if the Department of Public Safety determines that a bite is inconsequential or that there is no necessity for action.
(C) Written order. If the police or a designated employee of the town determines that specific preventive measures must be complied with by the owner of a dog, the Department of Public Safety shall make reasonable efforts to notify the owner of the written order, state the reasons that preventive measures are required, identify the specific preventive measures that must be implemented and state the designated time period within which to comply with the written order. The Department of Public Safety shall have the authority to exercise discretion for extensions of time if that is reasonable in view of the good-faith progress of the owner in implementing the preventive measures.
(D) Failure to comply with written order. It shall be unlawful for an owner to fail to comply with a written order within the designated time for compliance stated in the written order or any extension thereof. In addition to the remedies set forth in the town code the penalty for failure to comply with the written order shall be $100. The Department of Public Safety shall have the authority to issue additional $100 citations for a continuing failure to comply with a written order.
(E) Owner’s challenge to the written order. The owner may submit in writing a challenge to the Department of Public Safety’s determination that division (A) above is applicable to the owner’s premises or submit in writing a challenge to the specific preventive measures required by the division. The owner’s written challenge must be received at the office of the Town Administrator, during normal working hours, five days from the date of the written order, not counting the day of issuance of the written order. The Town Administrator or a designee shall review the written challenge. The review of the challenge may be done on the basis of the written material and information received from the Department of Public Safety regarding the order. The person reviewing the challenge shall have the authority to make findings of fact and conclusions in respect to the written order. The decision, the written order and any findings of act and conclusions shall be final with the only other appeal made to the general courts of North Carolina.
(F) Seizure and disposition of animal. The Department of Public Safety is authorized to request Brunswick Animal Control to seize any animal in violation as provided.
(Ord. 14-8, passed 10-9-2014; Am. Ord. 21-7, passed 6-7-2021)