For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ABANDON. Any animal left more than 48 hours without a person checking on the condition of the animal and providing food and potable water or not providing a timed feeder/waterer. Any animal left on private property without the owner’s consent, deserted, or dumped on public property or roadways.
ADEQUATE FOOD. Wholesome food suitable for the species provided at suitable intervals in a sanitary manner in quantities sufficient to maintain good health in an animal, considering its age and condition.
ADEQUATE SHELTER.
(1) Domestic animals. ADEQUATE SHELTER shall be provided to any animal(s), with the exception of livestock, that remain outside more than one continuous hour per day. The shelter must be suitable for the species, age, and condition of the animal. The shelter shall:
(a) Be structurally sound, with a solid, level, raised floor, enclosed sides or walls, and must be properly ventilated. The shelter shall be sanitary and weather/waterproof. Suitable drainage must be provided so that water is not standing in or around the structure;
(b) Be small enough to allow the animal’s body heat to warm the interior of the structure but be large enough to allow the animal to stand up, turn around, and lie down without touching the walls;
(c) Be made from suitable, appropriate materials to prevent harm or injury to the animal(s). Unsuitable materials include, but are not limited to, lean-tos, metal drums, plastic drums, cardboard or other disposable boxes, vehicles, or the area beneath exposed porches or exposed decks;
(d) Provide access to shade from direct sunlight and regress from exposure to inclement weather conditions, hot or cold, but which does not exacerbate existing weather conditions;
(e) Be placed in an area offering the best available protection from inclement weather, hot or cold; and
(f) Have floors that are constructed in a manner that protects the animal’s feet and legs from injury, and that, if of mesh or slatted construction, do not allow the animal’s feet to pass through the openings of the floor.
(g) Cardboard, fiberboard, or any other structure that fails to protect an animal from adverse atmospheric conditions shall not be considered proper shelter.
(2) Livestock. ADEQUATE SHELTER shall be provided to all livestock. The shelter shall be either natural or constructed, and must provide relief from the elements. Accepted natural shelters are natural windbreak from tree lines or other low areas, and natural shade under trees. Accepted constructed shelters are barns, three-sided shelters, lean-tos, and widescreens. Constructed shelters should be free of hazards likely to cause injury.
ADEQUATE VENTILATION. Proper air flow and circulation by mechanical, natural, or other means that provide a constant exchange of air, with fresh, clean, oxygenated air replacing the contaminated, dirty, un-oxygenated air within a confined space.
ADEQUATE WARMTH. Sufficient, comfortable degree of temperature of the confined space or containment area that will not lower or raise the average body temperature as appropriate for the species.
ADEQUATE WATER. A supply of clean, fresh, potable water provided at suitable intervals or on a continual basis in a sanitary manner suitable for the species, condition, and age of the animal. The supply shall be in sufficient amounts to maintain good health in the animal, and in a suitable container secured to prevent turnover.
ANIMAL. Any live vertebrate creature.
ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER. Any person designated by the Kenton County Director of Animal Services who is qualified to perform the duties under the laws and ordinances of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the county and all peace officers. An ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER shall be a law enforcement officer for the purposes of animal control only.
ANIMAL SERVICES. The department of the county which is designated by the Fiscal Court to enforce the provisions of this chapter and to operate the animal shelter.
ANIMAL SHELTER. Any premises operated or approved for operation by the Fiscal Court for the purpose of impounding and caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter.
BREEDER. Any person who intentionally or accidentally causes the breeding of more than one litter per female cat or dog in a 12-month period; makes more than one cat or dog available for breeding purposes in a 12-month period; or offers for sale, trades, receives any compensation or gives away more than one litter of dogs or cats in a 12-month period, with the exception of a litter of dogs or cats taken to the animal shelter.
CITATION OFFICER. Any city employee who acts as an enforcement officer in the administration and enforcement of city ordinances. A CITATION OFFICER shall be a law enforcement officer or animal control officer for the purposes of this chapter only.
COMMUNITY CAT. Any free roaming cat that may be cared for by one or more residents of the immediate area who is/are known. A COMMUNITY CAT may or may not be feral. COMMUNITY CATS are distinguished from other cats by being sterilized and ear-tipped. COMMUNITY CATS that have been ear-tipped, sterilized, and vaccinated under the Trap-Neuter-Return Program are exempt from licensing, stray, and at-large provisions of this chapter.
DAY. For the purposes of this chapter, a 24-hour period shall constitute a day.
DIRECTOR OF ANIMAL SERVICES. The person appointed by the judge/executive and approved by the Fiscal Court as the Chief Animal Control Officer.
DOMESTIC ANIMAL. Animals that are habituated to live in or about the habitations of human beings, and which are kept, cared for, sheltered, fed, or harbored for use as a pet or as a source of food, raw materials or income.
DWELLING. The house or other structure in which a human being lives.
EXOTIC ANIMAL. Any animal not indigenous to the United States.
EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS. When weather conditions are such that a heat advisory, excessive heat advisory, severe thunderstorm warning, flash flood warning, blizzard warning, winter storm warning or wind chill advisory is issued by the National Weather Service.
FOWL. A bird of the order Galliformes that is kept for its eggs and flesh; a rooster or hen or any other type of domesticated bird such as a turkey, duck, or goose kept for its eggs or flesh.
HUMANE SOCIETY. Any person or organization operating from a fixed site and taking in or accepting stray or unwanted animals.
IMPOUNDED. Having been received into the custody of animal services or any authorized representative thereof.
LIVESTOCK. Cattle, sheep, swine, goats, horses or any other animals of the bovine, ovine, porcine, caprine, or equine species.
OWNED CAT. Any cat that is a companion to a person, is regularly fed and sheltered in that same person’s habitation. All OWNED CATS are required to be in compliance with licensing, stray, and at-large provisions of this chapter, while community cats that have been ear-tipped, sterilized, and vaccinated under the Trap-Neuter-Return Program are exempt.
OWNER. Any person owning, keeping, harboring or sheltering one or more animals.
PARAPHERNALIA, ANIMAL FIGHTING. Any bite sticks, weighted chains and/or collars, spars, animal treadmills, slat mills, carpet mills, fighting pens, permanent or temporary, injectable or ingestible drugs and supplements used to enhance fighting, spring poles, or weight pull harnesses and equipment.
PERSON. All natural persons, corporations, partnerships, firms, associations, governmental bodies, agencies, and other entities.
PET. Domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.
PUBLIC NUISANCE. Any animal which:
(1) Attacks people or other animals;
(2) Damages public or private property;
(3) Is repeatedly at large;
(4) Makes noise in an excessive, continuous or untimely manner for more than 15 minutes without provocation;
(5) Creates unsanitary conditions:
(6) Disturbs the peace, comfort or health of persons in any other manner; or
(7) A home, residence, building, shed, yard, property, or other establishment that contains excessive amounts of feces and/or urine, or exudes a foul odor.
RESTRAINT. Enclosed in an area by a form of fencing designed to control the movement of the animal or secured by a leash, chain, or cable tie-out. An animal shall be deemed to be retrained if it remains on the premises of its owner or if it is accompanied by a responsible person and is under that person’s immediate control.
RUNNING AT LARGE. Any animal that is off the property of the owner, custodian, possessor or harborer and is not restrained. Community cats that have been ear-tipped, sterilized, and vaccinated under the Trap-Neuter-Return Program shall not be considered to be RUNNING AT LARGE.
STRAY. Any animal that is running at large. Community cats that have been ear-tipped, sterilized, and vaccinated under the Trap-Neuter-Return Program shall not be considered STRAY for purposes of this chapter.
TRAP-NEUTER-RETURN (TNR). The method of managing community cats by humanely trapping, altering, vaccinating, ear-tipping, and returning the community cats to the location where they were trapped where the community cats will be provided with long-term care by one or more caretakers.
VETERINARIAN. Any person licensed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky to practice veterinary medicine.
VETERINARY HOSPITAL CLINIC. Any establishment maintained and operated by a licensed 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 domestic animals which, due to a known propensity to endanger life, by an unprovoked assault or bite has resulted in serious bodily harm;
(2) Any animal with a known propensity, tendency or disposition to unprovoked attacks which cause injury or endanger the safety of human beings or domestic animals;
(3) Any animal which bites to the extent of causing severe injury and assaults or otherwise attacks human beings or domestic animals;
(4) Any animal owned or harbored primarily or in part for the purpose of fighting with animals;
(5) It shall be prima facie evidence that an animal is vicious if the animal bites a human being or domestic animal more than once in the same attack;
(6) Exceptions. An animal shall not be deemed vicious solely because:
(a) It bites, attacks, or menaces:
1. Any person assaulting its owner;
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 another person;
(c) It is protecting or defending its young or the young of any other animal; or
(d) Its breed or assumed/known component of its breed.
WILD ANIMAL. Any animal that is not a domesticated companion animal, or any crossbreeds of these animals with domestic animals, or any descendant of any crossbreed. Such animals include, but are not limited to, any venomous snake, python or constrictor snakes, porcupines, monkeys, raccoons, skunks, leopards, lions, tigers, lynx, bobcats, badgers, fox, coyotes, wolves, wolverines, squirrels, bears, deer, chipmunks, moose, elk, opossum, beavers, groundhogs, moles, gophers, prairie dogs, bats, sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps), kangaroos, and wallabies. An animal that has traditionally, through long association with humans, lived in a state of dependence upon humans or has been traditionally kept as a household pet, including dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, hamsters, gerbils, domesticated rats, guinea pigs, ferrets, parakeets, parrots, cockatiels, cockatoos, canaries, love birds, finches, and tropical fish, will not be considered WILD ANIMALS for purposes of this chapter.
(Ord. 2508, passed 12-1-2020)