(A) It shall be unlawful for any owner or keeper of animals to permit an animal to create a nuisance, or to maintain a nuisance created by an animal.
(B) Possession of certain reptiles is unlawful. It shall be unlawful for any persons to keep, maintain, possess, or have under their control within the town limits any venomous reptile, or non-venomous reptile weighing over 30 pounds at maturity. This prohibition is primarily based upon concern to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the town’s residents.
(C) It shall be unlawful for a person to own, keep, or have within the town an animal, bees, or the like, that habitually or repeatedly disturbs, annoys, or frightens the residents as determined by an animal control officer/law enforcement officer.
(D) It shall be unlawful for a person to own, keep, or have within the town an animal that habitually or repeatedly creates unsanitary conditions in the area where the animal primarily resides, that is not removed, in a timely manner, by the owners or keepers.
(E) Compliance shall be required as follows:
(1) When a law enforcement officer determines that a violation has occurred on private property, the owner or keeper shall be given written notification of such violation and be given 48 hours from the time of the notification to abate the nuisance. If the animal commits any further violations or if the owner of the animal fails to abate the condition which constitutes the nuisance, the animal control/law enforcement officer may issue a notice of violation and civil penalty for the first offense and additional penalties for any and all subsequent offenses. If the owner fails to abate the nuisance after the second civil penalty, animal control officers/law enforcement may deem the animal a habitual public nuisance and/or seize and impound the animal. If the animal is seized, animal control/law enforcement officers must post a notice of seizure and impoundment with the owner. The owner may reclaim the animal upon payment of civil fees, redemption fees, and boarding. If the animal is not reclaimed within five days, it shall become the property of the town and turned over to Brunswick County Animal Services.
(2) When an animal control officer/law enforcement officer determines that a violation has occurred on public property, the owner must remove the animal from the public area immediately and may be charged criminally as provided by G.S. § 160A-175, and/or subject to civil penalties as provided in the town’s fee schedule.
(3) Any animal that has been previously deemed by an animal control officer or law enforcement officer as being at large, based upon probable cause, or has previously caused injury to a person or animal, or has displayed vicious tendencies, or has been a habitual public nuisance, must be restrained by a fence or enclosure by the owner even when on the owner’s property based on the owner’s failure to abate the nuisance. The restraint must be deemed appropriate by the animal control supervisor. Any person guilty of violations of this section shall be subject to criminal or civil proceedings, or by any other remedy provided for under G.S. § 160A-175. Fines for civil violations are set in the town’s fee schedule maintained at the Town Hall. The provisions for violation in this section are separate and severable and either civil or criminal action may be instituted notwithstanding the other.
(f) No person shall, without prior approval from Town Administration and for a limited amount of time, keep or maintain any fowl, hooved animal, cow, horse, pony, mule, sheep, or goat including, but not limited to, other similar livestock animals on any lot or within any pen, stable, or other enclosure or building within the corporate limits of the town.
(Ord. passed 8-17-23) Penalty, see § 10.99