When used in this chapter the following words and terms shall be interpreted as follows, unless the context indicates a different meaning:
Animal Control Officer means an officer in local government answering to the Mayor and/or Public Works Director, whose duty is to enforce ordinances regulating ownerships of animals and to respond to incidences in which animals are involved.
At large means not contained or restrained by a fence or enclosure or restrained by a leash, chain or run of sufficient strength attached to a harness or collar that when it is fully extended said animal is still within the property boundaries of the animals’s residence.
Bird shall mean any of the Class “Aves” of warm blooded, egg laying, feathered vertebrates with forelimbs modified to form wings whether used for food/game or not. The term shall include the Order Galliformes, but does not include ratities.
Cat shall mean any animal belonging to the felis catus species.
Dangerous animal shall mean an animal that:
(a) makes an unprovoked attack on a person that causes bodily injury and occurs while the animal is at large as defined herein;
(b) commits unprovoked acts while at large and those acts cause the person to reasonably believe that the animal will attack and cause bodily injury to that person;
(c) unprovoked attack, with respect to an attack by an animal, shall mean at large and that animal was not kicked, hit or struck by a person with an object or part of the person’s body, nor was the animal pinched, pulled, poked or squeezed by a person.
Disposed of as deemed appropriate means that under the direction of the Mayor and/or Public Works Director, the animal may be:
(a) sold at private sale or public auction;
(b) humanely destroyed (in case where rabies is concerned, it shall be done in a manner that the brain is not mutilated so that the brain can be submitted to a laboratory certified by the Texas Department of Health for proper diagnosis);
(c) adopted out to an individual or organization (any individual or organization wishing to adopt must pay all daily impoundment fees, licensing fees, vaccination fees and spay/neutering fees as necessary);
(d) wild animals may be taken to a point that is a substantial distance from the city and released into the wild;
(e) taken to the county facility or other facility deemed appropriate by the Mayor and/or Director of Public Works.
Dog shall mean any animal belonging to the canine family.
Exotic livestock/ratites shall mean any species classified as exotic livestock/ratites by the Texas Animal Commission.
Fowl shall mean any of various birds from the Order Galliformes that are used for food, profit or hunted as game, including but not limited to chickens, ducks, geese, pheasant, quail, dove, pigeons and guineas.
Humanely destroy shall mean to cause the death of an animal by a method which rapidly produces unconsciousness and death without visible evidence of pain or distress or utilizes anesthesia produced by an agent which causes painless loss of consciousness and death following such loss of consciousness.
Livestock shall mean an animal raised or bred for use or profit on a farm or having a farm application, including but not limited to horses, mules, jacks, jennets, cattle, sheep, goats, rabbits. This definition does not include exotic livestock/ratites as defined by Texas Animal Commission.
Owner shall mean any person who owns or has custody or control of any animal.
Residence shall mean the place where the animal is supposed to be contained or restrained.
Secure enclosure means a fenced area or structure that is locked, capable of preventing the entry of the general public, capable of preventing the escape or release of an animal, clearly marked as containing a dangerous animal, and in conformance with the requirements for enclosures established by the local Animal Control Officer.
Stray animal means any animal found at large where there is a known owner/residence or not.
Swine means any of various omnivores, even toed ungulates or the family suidae having a stout body, a thick skin, a short neck and a movable snout, including but not limited to pigs, pot bellied pigs, hogs, and boars.
Vaccination means properly injected with rabies vaccine licensed for use in that species by the United States Department of Agriculture and administered by a legally licensed veterinarian.
Wild or exotic species of animal or reptile means wildlife or other animals not normally considered to be sold or restrained as household pets, including but not limited to skunks, nonhuman primates, wolves, coyotes and any animal or reptile that occurs naturally in the wild. Exotic means any animal or reptile born or whose natural habitat is outside the continental United States.
(Am. Ord. 06-2006-01, passed 6-6-06)