Every owner or his or her agent residing within the corporate limits of the city shall see that each of his or her animals:
(A) Is kept in a clean, sanitary, and healthy manner and is not confined so as to be forced to stand, sit, or lie in its own excrement;
(B) Has sufficient and wholesome food and water, which is proper and nutritional for that species of animal;
(C) Subject to the discretion of the investigating officer, lives in a structure, which will protect that animal from all elements of the weather and will allow that animal to stand, sit, and lie down without restriction, and which is kept in a sanitary manner; which meets minimum standards of floor space where at least half of the cage is solid if housed in a cage with wire floor;
(D) If ill, diseased, or injured, receives proper veterinary care as necessary to promote the good health of the animal and prevent the transmittal of a disease to other animals or human beings;
(E) Is not beaten, ill-treated, overloaded, over-worked, tormented, or otherwise abused or neglected, or involved in any dog fight, cockfight, bullfight, or other combat between animals or between animals and humans;
(F) Is not physically altered in any manner by anyone other than a veterinarian, except for tattooing for identification purposes and grooming;
(G) Is not abandoned, neglected, or tortured;
(H) Does not become a public nuisance;
(I) Does not become a dangerous animal;
(J) In the case of a dog or cat over the age of four months, is properly vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian annually, or upon such frequency as may be specified by state law, and such animals shall be licensed as required by this chapter and state law;
(K) Is properly restrained and not at large; an animal must be properly restrained when off of its owner’s private property unless it is determined by the animal control officer that such animal is not a nuisance as defined under § 90.01; and
(L) When in estrus, shall be confined in a secure enclosure in such a manner that it cannot come into contact with another animal of the same species, except for planned breeding.
(M) For purposes of division (K), the following shall apply:
(1) No animal shall be hitched, tied or fastened by any rope, chain or cord that is directly attached to the animal’s neck. Animals that must be tied, hitched or fastened to restrain them must wear a properly fitted collar or harness made of leather or nylon, not of the choker type. This is not to prohibit the proper use of choker collars in the training of animals. The tying device shall be attached to the animal’s collar or harness and shall be at least six feet in length and must have a swivel device on the anchor and collar end to prevent tangling.
(2) No person shall chain their dog using an agitation collar; a collar exceeding one and one-half inches wide for any dog less than 60 pounds. Dogs over 60 pounds shall not be tethered using a collar exceeding two inches in width.
(3) An animal that is tethered must have access to adequate shelter at all times.
(4) A person shall not chain or tether a dog with a chain or tether that weighs more than one-eighth of the dog’s body weight.
(5) A person shall not tether an animal in a manner that permits the animal to leave the person’s property or to reach within six feet of public property.
(6) A person shall not tether or confine a dog at a vacant structure or premises for any purpose when it is not monitored by an adult who is present at the property for the duration of such tethering or confinement.
(7) A person shall not have more than three dogs tethered simultaneously at the same residence.
(8) A person shall not allow contact between tethered dogs.
(N) For purposes of provision (E), the following shall apply:
(1) No person shall possess animal fighting paraphernalia AND a dog, cock, fowl, or bird bearing a scar, wound or injury consistent with animal fighting.
(2) No person shall attend an animal fighting contest.
(3) No person shall knowingly sell, purchase, own, harbor, give away, barter, breed, or possess any animal for animal fighting.
(4) No personal shall permit anyone to use any building, shed, room, yard, ground, premises, vehicle or property, whether enclosed or not for the purpose of animal fighting.
(5) No person shall aid, abet, assist, act as judge or referee, bet or wager money or other valuable consideration on the outcome of, be at, attend, or in any way engage in the furtherance of an exhibition of animal fighting.
(6) Each animal affected by the defendant’s conduct may constitute a separate count for the purposes of prosecution, convictions, sentencing and penalties under this section.
(O) It shall be a violation of this section to be an animal hoarder as defined in this chapter.
(Ord. 2005-21, passed 5-25-2005; Am. Ord. 2014-1, passed 2-25-2014) Penalty, see § 90.99