(a) Bites unlawful. It shall be unlawful for an animal to bite a human being who does not ordinarily reside on the premises of the animal unless the animal has been subject to provocation, or unless the victim has been trespassing.
(b) Reporting bite. It shall be unlawful for a person to fail to report to animal control as soon as possible that an animal has bitten a person. It shall be unlawful for any person to fail to inform the animal control unit the location to which an animal that has bitten a human being has been taken if the owner has given the animal away, or caused in any way the animal to be taken from the owner's premises.
(c) Confinement. Any dog or cat that bites a person or that shows symptoms of rabies shall be confined immediately and quarantined, at the direction of the animal control unit, for a period of ten days, and shall not be released from such quarantine except by written permission from the animal control unit. Dogs and cats quarantined under this section shall be confined in a veterinary hospital, licensed boarding kennel or county animal shelter, at the expense of the owner, provided, however, that if an animal control officer determines that the owner of an animal which must be quarantined has adequate confinement facilities upon his own premises, the animal control officer may authorize the animal to be confined on such premises. In order to qualify for this "own premises" quarantine, the animal must be constantly confined in a secure enclosure and the animal must be currently vaccinated against rabies. If the animal is confined on the owner's premises, the animal control officer shall visit the premises for inspection purposes at times determined by the officer, but no less than once in the middle of the confinement and once at the end of the confinement.
(d) Failure to confine. If the owner fails or refuses to confine the animal as required by this section, the chief may order the seizure of the animal and its confinement for ten days at the expense of the owner. If the animal is unclaimed after the ten-day confinement, the chief may dispose of the animal.
(e) Release from quarantine. If rabies does not develop within ten days after the commencement of quarantine under this section, the animal may be released from quarantine, with the written permission of animal control.
(f) Strays. In the case of stray dogs or cats whose ownership is not known, the dog or cat may be euthanized and the head examined for rabies or kept for the supervised quarantine period required by this section at the animal control shelter.
(Code 1982, § 4-18; Ord. No. 01-022, § 1, 11-8-2001; Ord. No. 2019-Code-02, 9-12-2019)
State law reference(s)--Animal bites, G.S. 130A-196 et seq.