(A) Any person may make a sworn application to the municipal court that the owner of a dangerous animal has failed to comply with § 90.135 or that a dangerous animal has attacked a person or another animal.
(B) Upon the filing of a sworn application under this section, the court shall order the ACO to seize the dangerous animal and shall issue a warrant authorizing the seizure. The ACO officer shall seize the dangerous animal or order its seizure and shall provide for the impoundment of the dangerous animal in secure and humane conditions. The owner may be ordered to pay any cost or fee assessed by the city related to the seizure, acceptance, impoundment, or destruction of the dangerous animal. The governing body of the city may prescribe the amount of the fees.
(C) If, after a hearing on an application filed under this section, the municipal court finds that the owner of the dangerous animal has failed to comply with § 90.135 or that the dangerous animal has attacked a person or another animal, the municipal court shall order the ACO to humanely destroy the dangerous animal or that the dangerous animal be permanently removed from the city. The court shall also order the owner of the dangerous animal to pay all costs or fees assessed by the city related to the seizure, acceptance, impoundment, and destruction of the dangerous animal due to the sworn complaint filed under this section.
(D) If, after a hearing on an application filed under this section, the municipal court finds that the owner of the dangerous animal has not failed to comply with § 90.135 and that the dangerous animal has not attacked a person or a domesticated animal, the municipal court shall order that the ACO immediately release the dangerous animal to the owner, and the owner shall not be responsible for the costs of seizure or impoundment of the dangerous animal due to the sworn complaint filed under this section.
(E) Notwithstanding any other law or local regulation, a dangerous animal shall not be destroyed during the pendency of an appeal under § 90.216.
(F) If the owner of a dangerous animal seized due to a sworn application filed under this section cannot be located before the fifteenth day after the seizure and impoundment of the dangerous animal, the dangerous animal shall be considered abandoned and the city shall be deemed the owner of the dangerous animal. The court may order the humane destruction of a dangerous animal abandoned under this section upon application of the ACA, without a hearing.
(Ord. 408, passed 2-14-2019)