For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply unless the context clearly requires a different meaning.
ANIMAL. Any live, non-human vertebrate creature, whether domestic or wild.
ANIMAL SHELTER. Any facility operated by the Department of Animal Services 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.
AT LARGE. Any place elsewhere than on the owner’s premises and not restrained by a leash or not under the immediate and complete control of a person capable of controlling such animal.
AUTHORIZED AGENT. Any law enforcement officer or authorized employee of the Department of Animal Services.
CAT. All domestic members of the feline family of animals.
DANGEROUS DOG. Any dog which, according to the records of the Department of Animal Services or the town:
(1) Has aggressively bitten, attacked or endangered, or has inflicted severe injury or death on, a human being on public or private property;
(2) Has been used primarily or in part for the purpose of dog fighting or is a dog trained for dog fighting; or
(3) Has been listed as a potentially- dangerous dog by the Department of Animal Services and exhibits behavior warranting listing as a dangerous dog.
DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL SERVICES. The Animal Care and Control Department of the Kokomo Humane Society.
DOG. All domestic members of the canine family of animals.
ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY. The President of the Town Council and the agents or appointed representatives of the Town Council including, but not limited to, the Police Department and its duly- appointed officers.
HARBOR. The actions of any person who permits any animal to habitually remain, lodge or be fed within his or her home, store, enclosure, yard or place of business or on any premises on which such person resides or controls. An animal shall be presumed HARBORED if it is fed or sheltered for three days.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT. The county’s Health Department.
KENNEL. A facility operated principally for the purpose of boarding, housing, grooming, breeding or training dogs or cats. The facility must be located a minimum of 1,000 feet from the closest dwelling.
LESS-SEVERE INJURY. Any injury made with the teeth, fangs or claws of any animal which results in a minor puncture, piercing or breaking of the skin and does not require extensive medical treatment.
LITTER. Includes any human-made or human- used waste which, if deposited within the town otherwise than in a litter receptacle, tends to create a danger to the public health, safety and welfare or tends to impair the environment or aesthetic well- being of the community. LITTER shall include, but not be limited to, garbage, trash, refuse, debris, grass clippings or other lawn or garden waste, paper products, glass, metal, plastic or paper containers, motor vehicle parts, furniture, appliances, carcasses of dead animals or other waste material of an unsightly, unsanitary, nauseous or offensive nature.
NUISANCE. Defined as set out at I.C. 32-30-6-6, to wit: whatever is injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses or an obstruction to the free use of property so as essentially to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.
OBSTRUCTIONS. No person, corporation or sole proprietorship shall obstruct, endanger or permit anything to obstruct or endanger the free passage or proper use by the public of any street, sidewalk, alley or public place except as may be permitted by this code; however, goods, wares and merchandise may be placed on sidewalks for such reasonable time as may be necessary for loading and unloading them if they are removed within 24 hours.
OF RECORD. Recorded in the records of the county’s Recorder or in the records of the county’s Auditor.
OWNER. Any person or persons owning or having the care, custody or control of any animal.
PERSON. Any individual, firm, association, partnership or corporation.
POTENTIALLY-DANGEROUS DOG.
(1) Any dog which engages, unprovoked, in any behavior that requires a defensive action by any person to prevent bodily injury when the person and the dog are off of the property of the dog’s owner or keeper;
(2) Any dog which bites a person unprovoked, causing a less-severe injury as defined;
(3) Any dog which chases or menaces a person;
(4) Any dog which runs at large; or
(5) Any dog which, unprovoked, has killed, seriously bitten, inflicted injury on or otherwise caused injury to a domestic animal by attacking when off of the property of the owner or keeper of the dog.
PRIVATE PREMISES. All property including, but not limited to, vacant land or any land upon which is located one or more buildings or other structures designated or used for residential, commercial, business, industrial, institutional or religious purposes, together with any yard, grounds, walks, driveways, fences, porches or other structures or improvements appurtenant to the land, except for any public place.
PUBLIC NUISANCE.
(1) Any animal, or animals, that:
(a) Attacks passers-by or passing vehicles;
(b) Damages public or private property;
(c) Is not confined while in estrus, or “heat”;
(d) Barks, whines or howls in an excessive or continuous fashion, unreasonable under the circumstances, so as to violate the peace and quiet of the neighborhood; or
(e) Does not have a permanent means of identification as provided for in this chapter.
(2) It shall also be a PUBLIC NUISANCE to harbor more than four dogs or cats over the age of four months unless classified as a kennel.
PUBLIC PLACE. Any and all streets, curbs, gutters or sidewalks and all public parks, lakes, spaces, publicly-owned rights-of-way, grounds or buildings which are within the corporate limits of the town or owned by the town.
RESTRAINT. The securing of an animal by its owner by leash or by confining it within the real property limits.
SECURE ENCLOSURE.
(1) Where a dog or cat is securely and humanely confined on the owner’s property within a house, building, locked pen or other enclosure which is designed to prevent the potentially-dangerous dog from escaping over, under or through the enclosure, known as the PRIMARY ENCLOSURE.
(2) If the dog is maintained outside, a portion of the owner’s property must be fenced with a secured perimeter fence of sufficient height and strength so as to prevent the public from entering and the dog from escaping from the owner’s property.
STRAY. Any animal which does not appear, upon reasonable inquiry, to have an owner.
SUBSTANTIAL PROPERTY INTEREST. Any right in real property which may be affected in a substantial way by actions authorized by this chapter, including a fee interest, a life estate interest, a future interest, a present possessory interest or an equitable interest of a contract purchaser.
TOWN. The Town of Greentown, Indiana, and all areas within the municipal boundaries of said town as of the date of this chapter’s passage and as thereafter amended or changed by annexation.
WILD ANIMALS. Any non-domesticated animal and any domesticated animal including, but not limited to, horses, cattle, pigs, chickens and roosters, with the exception of small, non-poisonous aquatic or amphibious animals, small caged birds, domesticated cats and domesticated dogs.
(Ord. 2011-2, passed 5-3-2011; Ord. 2016-9, passed 9-20-2016)