For the purpose of this chapter the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AMATEUR BREEDER. Any person, not a commercial animal establishment, who allows his dog or cat to breed with another and does not keep the offspring or give them to the animal shelter.
ANIMAL. Any live, nonhuman vertebrate creature, domestic or wild.
ANIMAL SHELTER. Any facility operated by a humane society or municipal agency, or its authorized agents for the purpose of impounding or caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter or of state law.
AT LARGE. An animal shall be deemed AT LARGE when it is not under restraint.
AUCTIONS. Any place or facility where animals are regularly sold, bought, or traded, except for those facilities otherwise defined in this chapter.
CIRCUS. A commercial variety show featuring animal acts for public entertainment.
COMMERCIAL ANIMAL ESTABLISHMENT. Any pet shop, auction, riding school or stable, zoological park, circus, or performing animal exhibition.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Any animal that is a member of one of the following species:
Dog (Canis familiaris)
Cat (Felis catus or Felis domesticus)
Cattle (Bos domesticus or Bos taurus or Bos indicus)
Horse (Equus caballus)
Donkey (Equus asinus)
Pig (Sus scrofa)
Sheep (Ovis aries)
Goat (Capra hircus)
Rabbit (Oryctolagus cunniculus)
Mouse (Mus musculus)
Rat (Rattus rattus)
Guinea pig (Caris procellus)
Chinchilla (Chinchilla laniger)
Hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)
Gerbil (Gerbillus gerbillus)
HARBORING. The actions of any person that permit any animal habitually to remain or lodge or to be fed within his home, store, enclosure, yard, or place of business or any premises on which such person resides or controls. An animal shall be presumed harbored if it is fed or sheltered for three consecutive days.
HUMANE OFFICER or ANIMAL WARDEN. Any person designated by the state, a municipal government, or a humane society as a law enforcement officer who is qualified to perform such duties under the laws of this state.
KENNEL. An establishment wherein any person engages in boarding, breeding, buying, keeping, letting for hire, training for a fee, or selling dogs or cats. Anyone keeping a total of five or more dogs or cats six months of age or older shall be deemed a kennel operator.
OWNER. Any person owning, keeping, or harboring one or more animals.
PERFORMING ANIMAL EXHIBITION. Any spectacle, display, act, or event other than circuses, in which performing animals are used.
PET. Any animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.
PET SHOP. Any person, whether separately or in connection with another business enterprise except for a kennel, that buys, sells, or boards any species of animal.
PUBLIC NUISANCE. Any animal that does any of the following.
(1) Molests passersby or passing vehicles.
(2) Attacks other animals.
(3) Damages public property or private property.
(4) Is repeatedly at large.
(5) Barks, whines, or howls in an excessive or continuous fashion.
RESEARCH LABORATORY. Any animal research facility registered with the United States Department of Agriculture under authority of the Federal Laboratory Animal Welfare Act, 71 United States Code Section 2132 et seq.
RESTRAINT. The securing of an animal by a leash or lead or confining it within the real property limits of its owner.
RIDING SCHOOL OR STABLE. Any place that has available for hire, boarding, or riding instruction, any horse, pony, donkey, mule, or burro.
SHELTER. A roofed, four-sided enclosure with adequate opening for the animal’s protection from the elements.
STRAY. Any animal that does not appear, upon reasonable inquiry, to have an owner.
VETERINARY HOSPITAL. Any establishment maintained and operated by a veterinarian for surgery, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases and injuries of animals.
VICIOUS ANIMAL.
(1) Any animal which constitutes a physical threat to human beings or other domestic animals by virtue of a known propensity to endanger life by unprovoked assault or bite or scratch so as to cause serious bodily harm; or
(2) Any animal which, when unprovoked, in a vicious or terrorizing manner approaches any person in an attitude of aggression upon the streets, sidewalks, or any public grounds or places; or
(3) Any animal with a known propensity, tendency or disposition to attack unprovoked, to cause injury to or otherwise endanger the safety of a human being or domestic animal without provocation on public or private property; or
(4) Any animal which bites (to the extent of puncturing or severely bruising the skin), inflicts injury to or otherwise attacks a human being or domestic animal without provocation on public or private property; or
(5) Any animal which scratches (to the extent of tearing or puncturing the skin), inflicts injury, assaults or otherwise attacks a human being or domestic animal without provocation on public or private property; or
(6) Any animal which behaves in such a manner that the owner therefore knows or should reasonably know that the animal possesses a tendency to attack, scratch or bite a human being or domestic animal other than under circumstances which would be justified under this chapter; or
(7) Any animal certified by a licensed or certified aggression dog trainer, evaluator or behaviorist after observation thereof, as posing a danger to human life if not kept in a manner required under § 91.057 upon the basis of behavioral probability; or
(8) Any animal which has previously attacked any human being; or
(9) Exceptions. Any animal shall not be deemed vicious solely because:
(a) It bites, attacks or menaces:
1. Anyone assaulting its owner; or
2. Any person or animal who has tormented or abused it;
(b) It is otherwise acting in defense of any attack from a person or other animal upon its owner or any other person;
(c) It is defending its young or the young of another animal;
(d) It is defending its property from a person which the animal would have reason to believe has entered its property with obvious malicious intent; or
(10) Exemptions. Any animals which are employed by a State Police Department or any animal which has been certified either nationally or by the state for use in police work providing the animal is owned and in the possession of the person who initially trained the animal and for whom the certification was meant.
WILD ANIMAL. Any animal not a domestic animal, with the exception of small, nonpoisonous aquatic or amphibious animals and small cage birds.
ZOOLOGICAL PARK. Any facility, other than a pet shop or kennel, displaying or exhibiting, without the predominant purpose of selling, one or more species of non-domesticated animals operated by a person or government agency.
(Ord. 2304, passed 1-19-81; Am. Ord. 3589, passed 6-16-97)