(A) Hours. The hours of operation for the County Animal Shelter shall be 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The shelter will be open to the public between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The shelter will be closed Sundays, Mondays and scheduled holidays.
(B) Uniforms. All Animal Shelter employees shall wear issued uniform shirts during scheduled working hours and during after-hours calls.
(C) Visitors. Visitors in the kennel area should be accompanied by an employee at all times.
(D) After-hours calls. The animal control officer may be called after hours for the following emergency situations:
(1) Loose vicious canine;
(2) Bite case involving a person;
(3) Dog or cat injured and alive; injury should be considered life-threatening;
(4) Dog or cat in emergency situation (e.g., dog caught in drainpipe, cat in house fire, and the like);
(5) Dog or cat abandoned due to:
(a) Owner arrested; no responsible party available; or
(b) Automobile accident; no one to provide care.
(6) On order of the County Judge/Executive.
(E) Activities relegated to regular hours.
(1) Strays;
(2) Nuisance calls; barking dogs, and the like;
(3) Cruelty cases when not life-threatening; and
(4) Pick-up of dogs and cats.
(F) Carrion. The closest available county or city officer should handle dead animals on the roadway.
(G) Paging. All employees will be on-call on a weekly rotating schedule established by the Supervisor. Wardens on-call are required to carry a pager at all times and respond when paged.
(1) The Central Communications Unit will page the Warden on-call. The Warden on- call will contact the Communications Dispatcher within ten minutes to ascertain the location of the call and the complainant. Once the Warden determines the nature of the call, it shall be at his or her discretion as to disposition on the call if it is a non-emergency situation. The Warden shall then notify the Communications Dispatcher of his or her determination and disposition of the call. The Warden shall maintain a log of all pages including source, time, date, and disposition of call. Warden will be compensated two hours minimum time if called back after duty hours.
(2) If the Warden on-call does not contact the Communications Unit within ten minutes of the time of the page, he or she may be required to show cause for the delay and may be subject to disciplinary action as outlined by the county personnel policy.
(3) The Communications Dispatcher shall not give the Warden’s home telephone or pager number out to the general public at any time. The Communications Dispatcher shall maintain a log of all requests for the Dog Warden, nature of the call, time of the page, time the call was dispatched, and disposition of the call. If the Warden on-call does not respond, the Dispatcher will contact the complainant and will continue to page the Warden until a response is made.
(H) Canine housing and detention.
(1) The Warden shall maintain a log and card file for each canine that is picked up and detained in the shelter. The log shall indicate the location of the pick-up, date, sex of animal, description, Warden’s name and corresponding identification number. It is the responsibility of the Warden who picks up the canine to search the canine for a collar and/or identification, Kentucky dog tag, rabies tag, or tattoos. If no identification exists, the Warden shall inoculate the canine with the parvo vaccine and other required serum. This introduction process will be placed on the log for reference. If an identification exists, then Warden shall wait the required seven days before proceeding with inoculation program.
(2) If owner of canines subject to KRS 258.215 can provide compliance with KRS 258.015, then said owner shall have the dog returned after paying the pick-up fee.
(3) Any canine delivered to the Animal Shelter by the Dog Warden will be detained a minimum of seven days before becoming eligible for adoption.
(4) Any animal surrendered to the Animal Shelter is eligible for adoption as soon as possible.
(5) The maximum time an animal is kept in shelter should be 30 days with the exception of spayed or neutered animals.
(6) All adoptable animals shall be spayed or neutered before final adoption from the shelter.
(7) Euthanasia is to be performed in the utility room of the shelter behind closed doors. All dogs shall be put down by intravenous injection with the exception of puppies, which are too immature for that procedure. If a veterinarian/technician is not present to assist in the euthanasia process, then the Warden on duty shall hold dogs for intravenous injection. No animals are to be put down in the kennel area.
(8) Any Warden who allows these euthanasia procedures to be violated shall be subject to disciplinary action.
(9) When a canine is noticeably sick or injured, the Warden on duty shall transport the animal to the veterinarian immediately and appropriate action shall be taken as determined by the veterinarian after his or her examination of the animal.
(10) When any animal is put down, the log will reflect the date, Warden, and veterinarian involved in the process. It is the responsibility of the attending Warden to dispose of the remains through waste management.
(I) Cruelty cases. The employees of the Animal Shelter shall refer all reported cruelty cases to an officer of the Humane Society and the law enforcement agency who has jurisdiction for investigation. In the investigation of violation of local dog ordinances, the Warden may contact a law enforcement officer for assistance under whose jurisdiction the violation occurs.
(Prior Code, § 23.702) (Ord. 2001-13, passed 11-14-2001; Ord. 2002-14, passed 5-29-2002; Ord. 2002-21, passed 10-16-2002)