(A) It shall be unlawful to abandon any canine or livestock.
(1) In the event that a canine or livestock is found abandoned, such canine or livestock may be seized by an Animal Control Officer or peace officer, and impounded at the animal shelter or at an alternate location designated by the Director of Animal Care and Control. Such canine or livestock, if taken from private property shall be kept for not less than the prescribed period in accordance with the procedures set forth in KRS 258.215 or § 90.12 of this chapter, or for any longer period required by law, regulation, or medical necessity. In the event a canine or livestock is so abandoned, the owner or person, if any, who he/she has charged with the canine’s or livestock’s care, shall be subject to a criminal prosecution for any violation of this section.
(2) Any canine found not under restraint without a rabies vaccination tag or up to date with a county license, or any canine found in a condition that requires immediate veterinary care, shall be presumed to be abandoned, and shall be seized and held at the Jessamine County Animal Shelter for a five day period as prescribed in section § 90.03(D).
(3) Notice of seizure of an abandoned canine or livestock from private property shall be posted on the premises from which the canine or livestock was seized, which notice shall clearly state the agency name and telephone number for the animal shelter.
(B) The owner of any canine shall be required to provide adequate food, water, space, health care and shelter.
(C) The owner of any livestock shall be required to provide adequate food, water, space, and health care.
(D) The owner of any feline shall be required to provide adequate food, water, space and health care.
(E) It shall be unlawful for any person to inhumanely treat any canine or feline, including, but not limited to, the deprivation of necessities, beating, mutilating, torturing, killing, overloading, overworking, or otherwise abusing any canine or feline. Nothing herein shall prevent Animal Care and Control from humanely euthanizing any canine or feline to prevent the prolonged suffering of the canine or feline.
(F) Any canine which is chained, tied or otherwise restrained shall be provided no less than ten feet or chain or cable and the like with a swivel attached to prevent entanglement. The tether shall be secured to a fixed immobile point that allows freedom of movement while withstanding the force necessary to restrain the canine. Canines shall not be tethered by use of a training collar or on any collar too small for the size and age of the canine, or of such unreasonable weight as to prevent the canine from moving about freely. The chain or cable shall be attached to the canine using a collar constructed of nylon or leather. Canines shall only be tethered in an area that is free of objects which could become tangled in the tether.
(G) It shall be unlawful for any person to keep a canine or feline within the passenger compartment of an automobile without adequate ventilation in the summer or adequate warmth in the winter. No person shall enclose any canine or feline in the trunk of an automobile. An Animal Control Officer or Peace Officer has authority to enter such motor vehicle by any reasonable means under the circumstances after making a reasonable effort to locate the owner or other person responsible. No person shall use any automobile as a permanent shelter for canines or felines.
(H) It shall be unlawful for any person to stage, cause, instigate, permit, observe, or attend any dog-fight or other combat between canines or between canines and humans. Canines altered for fighting purposes and animals with scarring from previous fighting may be considered evidence of unlawful canine combat.
(I) It shall be unlawful for any person(s) to own, harbor, or be in possession of any canine fighting paraphernalia.
(J) It shall be unlawful for any person to set free any hare, rabbit, gerbil, domesticated rat, guineas pig, other pet rodent, snake, lizard, turtle, other pet reptile, or other animal for the purpose of violating any provision of this chapter.
(K) Any person, who as the operator of a motor vehicle, strikes a domestic animal, shall stop at once and render assistance as may be possible and shall immediately report such injury or death to the animal’s owner, if known, or to Animal Control or any Peace Officer.
(L) No person shall expose any toxic, poisonous or illegal substance, whether mixed with food or not, so that the same shall be likely to be eaten by a domestic animal.
(M) It shall be unlawful to place an animal in the open bed of a parked vehicle unrestrained.
(N) It shall be unlawful to allow canines to remain outdoors during extreme weather conditions. Canines, must be moved indoors or to an area that provides protection from the extreme weather condition.
(O) It shall be unlawful for any owner or handler that has direct visual control of a canine on or off leash to allow said animal to intimidate, harass or worry another canine that is on it’s own owner’s property.
(Ord. passed 6-16-2015) Penalty, see § 90.99