(A) Whenever any animal, except a dog, bites a person, the person so bitten and the owner of the animal shall immediately notify the Humane Officer, which shall cause an examination of the animal to be made by a duly licensed physician or a duly licensed veterinarian, and shall order the animal held on the owner’s premises or shall have it impounded as long as necessary for a complete examination. The confinement of livestock is regulated by the state’s Livestock Sanitary Board.
(B) If the animal is a caged rodent, it may be confined and quarantined at the home of the owner or where it is harbored or maintained for the required period of time with the consent of and in the manner prescribed by the Humane Officer. Any wild animal which bites any person may be killed and submitted to the Humane Officer or his or her deputies for transmission to an appropriate diagnostic laboratory. If it is determined that the animal is infected with rabies or other dangerous, contagious, and infectious disease, it shall be the duty of the Humane Officer to destroy such animal in as humane a manner as is reasonably possible.
(C) If at the end of the quarantine or impoundment, a veterinarian is convinced that the animal is free from such diseases, the animal shall be released. If the animal dies during the period of quarantine or impoundment, its head shall be sent to the state’s Department of Health for examination.
(Prior Code, § 7-3)