As used in this chapter:
(a) "Animal" means any live, vertebrate creature, domestic or wild.
(b) "Animal shelter" means any facility operated by a humane society or a Municipal agency, or its authorized agents, for the purpose of impounding or caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter or State law.
(c) "Auction" means any place or facility where animals are regularly bought, sold or traded, except for those facilities otherwise defined in this chapter. This definition does not apply to individual sales of animals by owners.
(d) "Circus" means a commercial variety show featuring animal acts for public entertainment.
(e) "Commercial animal establishment" means any pet shop, grooming shop, auction, riding school or stable, zoological park, circus, performing animal exhibition or kennel.
(f) “Companion animal” means any animal that is kept inside a residential dwelling and any dog or cat regardless of where it is kept. “Companion animal” does not include livestock or any wild animal.
(g) “Exotic animal” means any animal, including a hybrid offspring thereof, not indigenous to the State of Ohio.
(h) “Grooming shop” means a commercial establishment where animals are bathed, clipped, plucked or otherwise groomed.
(i) “Humane Officer” means 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 the State.
(j) “Kennel” means any premises wherein any person engages in the business of boarding, breeding, buying, letting for hire, training for a fee or selling dogs or cats.
(Ord. 79-33. Passed 6-26-79.)
(k) “Owner” means any person owning, keeping, possessing, harboring, maintaining or having the care, custody and control of an animal. An animal shall be deemed to be harbored if it is fed or sheltered for three consecutive days or more.
(Ord. 84-24. Passed 11-27-84.)
(l) “Performing animal exhibition” means any spectacle, display, act or event, other than a circus, in which performing animals are used.
(m) “Pet” means any animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.
(n) “Pet shop” means any person, partnership or corporation, whether operated separately or in connection with another business enterprise, except for a licensed kennel, that buys, sells or boards any species of animal.
(o) “Physical harm” means any injury, illness or disease regardless of its gravity or duration.
(p) “Public nuisance” means any animal which:
(1) Molests passersby or passing vehicles;
(2) Attacks other animals;
(3) Trespasses on school grounds;
(4) Is repeatedly at large;
(5) Damages private or public property; or
(6) Barks, whines or howls in an excessive, continuous or untimely fashion.
(q) “Restraint” refers to control of an animal and means secured by a leash or a lead, or under the control of a responsible person and obedient to the person’s commands, or within the real property limits of its owner.
(r) “Riding school or stable” means any place which has available for hire, boarding and/or riding instruction, any horse, pony, donkey, mule or burro.
(s) “Serious physical harm” means any injury, illness or disease which includes a risk of death; or which requires hospitalization; or which involves some permanent or substantial temporary incapacity or disfigurement; or which involves prolonged or acute and substantial pain.
(t) “Veterinary hospital” means any establishment maintained and operated by a licensed veterinarian for surgery, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and injuries of animals.
(Ord. 79-33. Passed 6-26-79.)
(u) “Vicious animal” means:
(1) Any animal, other than a dog, that bites or causes physical harm to a human being or other animal on one or more occasions; or
(2) Any animal, other than a dog, that has a propensity to bite or cause physical harm to a human being or other animal.
(Ord. 84-24. Passed 11-27-84.)
(v) “Wild animal” means any animal, including a hybrid offspring thereof, which is not naturally tamed or domesticated.
(w) “Zoological park” means any facility, other than a pet shop or kennel, displaying or exhibiting one or more species of nondomesticated animals and operated by a person or government agency.
(Ord. 79-33. Passed 6-26-79.)
(x) “At large” means off the premises of the owner.
(y) “Dog” means any member of the canine species, male or female.
(z) “Unsecured” means not securely confined indoors or not securely restrained by means of a collar and chain, pen, fence or similar physical device, and in such a manner which effectively prevents a dog from going beyond the premises of the owner.
(aa) “Vicious dog” means:
(1) Any dog that, while off the premises of the owner, bites or causes physical harm to a human being or other domestic animal on one or more occasions; or
(2) Any dog with a known propensity, tendency or disposition to attack, unprovoked, to cause injury to or otherwise endanger the safety of human beings or other domestic animals.
(Ord. 84-24. Passed 11-17-84; Ord. 06-9. Passed 7-25-06.)