(A) Any dog or cat required to be licensed hereunder found in the city without a license shall in any circumstances deemed appropriate and necessary by the Police Department be impounded subject to the other provisions contained herein related to impoundment. Additionally, any dog or cat required to be licensed hereunder found in the city to be running at large under conditions set forth above is hereby declared to be a nuisance and may additionally be impounded by the Police Department, or such other person or persons appointed by the position of the Animal Control Administrator of the County of LaSalle. Any such dog and/or cat so impounded under any of the provisions contained herein may be redeemed by the owner upon payment of the fees in connection with the impoundment set by the Animal Control Administrator of the County of LaSalle. In the event that the dog or cat so impounded is registered and licensed in the City of LaSalle, the city shall send a notice to the registered owner of such dog or cat so impounded by certified mail with return receipt requested at said owner’s last known address after the animal becomes impounded. In the event that an owner notifies the city that the owner’s animal has been lost, and gives the city a description of the animal, the city shall thereafter through its Police Department, notify the owner within 24 hours of impoundment if the animal is located and impounded. Any dog or cat left by its owner with the city for disposition, is not to be regarded as unclaimed or unredeemed, but is to be disposed of as authorized by the owner. Additionally, release to the owner shall additionally be subject to the provision that the general release provision shall not automatically apply in the event that proceedings are pending in regard to determination as to whether the dog is a dangerous and/or vicious dog, in which circumstances the provisions in regard to dangerous dogs and vicious dogs shall be considered and controlling to the extent applicable.
(B) Any reasonable costs in connection with impoundment authorized by the Chief of Police and/or the LaSalle County Animal Control Administrator, shall be borne and paid for by the owner of the dog.
(C) In connection with apprehension and/or impoundment in furtherance of enforcement of this subchapter, a police officer may within said officer’s discretion, tranquilize the dog if the dog approaches the officer in a menacing fashion and/or if the officer otherwise reasonably perceives that tranquilization is appropriate in the circumstances; additionally, a police officer may shoot a dog if the dog attacks the officer or approaches the officer in a menacing fashion that the officer reasonably perceives that the dog is about to attack.
(Ord. 1724, passed 1-8-2001; Am. Ord. 2758, passed 9-24-2018)