(A) Definitions. For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ANIMAL. Includes any live vertebrate creature, domestic or wild, not to include birds.
PET. Any animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.
WILD OR EXOTIC ANIMAL. Any live monkey (non-human primate), raccoon, skunk, wolf, squirrel, fox, leopard, panther, tiger, lion, lynx or any other warm-blooded animal, poisonous snake or tarantula which can normally be found in the wild state or any other member of crocodilian, including, but not limited to, alligators, crocodiles, caimans and gavials, and including such other animal that cannot be effectively inoculated for rabies. Ferrets, non-poisonous snakes, rabbits and laboratory rats which have been bred in captivity and which have never known the wild shall be excluded from this definition.
(B) Display or exhibition. No person shall keep or permit to be kept on his or her premises any wild or exotic animal for display or for exhibition purposes, whether gratuitously or for a fee. This section shall not be construed to apply to zoological parks, performing animal exhibitions, circuses, schools or colleges or veterinary clinics which are properly licensed by the federal government or state.
(C) Keeping as a pet. No person shall keep or permit to be kept any wild or exotic animal as a pet.
(D) Notice required at a place of sale. Any person who offers for sale a wild or exotic animal as defined shall post conspicuously at the place of sale or display the following notice:
No person may lawfully keep or permit to be kept in the City of Dilworth any live monkey (non-human primate), raccoon, skunk, wolf, squirrel, fox, leopard, panther, tiger, lion, lynx or any other warm-blooded animal, poisonous snake or tarantula, crocodile or alligator, which
can normally be found in the wild state or any other member of the crocodilian, including, but not limited to, alligators, crocodiles, caimans and gavials and including such other animal that cannot be effectively inoculated for rabies.
(E) Notice of keeping wild or exotic animals. Upon the written complaint of any person that a person owns or is keeping or harboring a wild or exotic animal in violation of this section in the city, the Police Department or its authorized designee shall forthwith cause the matter to be investigated; and if after investigation the facts indicate that such person named in the complaint is in fact the owner or is keeping or harboring any such animal in the city, it shall forthwith send written notice to the person requiring such person to safely remove the animal from the city within five days of the date of the notice. Notice, as herein provided, shall not be required where such animal has previously caused serious physical harm or death to any person or has escaped and is at large, in which case the Police Department shall cause the animal to be immediately seized and impounded, according to the provisions hereof, or killed if seizure and impoundment are not possible without risk of serious physical harm or death to any person.
(F) Seizure and impounding of wild or exotic animals.
(1) The Police Department, or its authorized designee, shall forthwith cause to be seized and impounded any wild or exotic animal, where the person owning, keeping or harboring such animal has failed to comply with the notice sent pursuant to division (E) above. Upon a seizure and impoundment, the animal shall be delivered to a place of confinement, which may be with any organization which is authorized by law to accept, own, keep or harbor such animals.
(2) If, during the course of seizing and impounding any such animal, the animal poses a risk of serious physical harm or death to any person, such person or persons authorized by the Police Department may render the animal immobile by means of tranquilizers or other safe drugs; or if that is not safely possible, then the animal may be killed.
(G) Enforcement. The provisions of division (B) above shall be enforced by the Police Department or the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Animal Damage Control Department of the United States Department of Agriculture, or any other person duly designated by the City Chief of Police.
(H) Delayed enforcement. Any person who has a wild or exotic animal in possession at the time of the effective date of this subchapter in contravention of this section, shall have 30 days to dispose of the animal(s) by removal of the animal(s) from the city or by giving or selling the animal(s) to a zoological park or other entity exempt from this section.
(Ord. 97-6, passed 11-24-1997) Penalty, see § 10.99