(a) Any dog, fowl or head of livestock found running at large within the urban county, unless accompanied by the owner, custodian, possessor or harborer, and under his immediate control and not confined on the premises of the owner, custodian, possessor or harborer, shall be taken up by an animal control officer and held in the animal shelter designated as the urban county animal shelter. Each dog, head of livestock or fowl shall be there confined in a humane manner for a period of not less than five (5) days and each cat shall be there confined in a humane manner for a period of not less than three (3) days, unless sooner claimed by their owners, custodians or persons entitled to possession thereof, and may be disposed of in a humane manner if not otherwise claimed, sold or adopted. Equine and bovine livestock shall be confined for the period required by state law.
(b) The urban county animal control officer may transfer title to all animals held after the legal detention period in subsection (a) hereof has expired and the animal has not been claimed by its owner, custodian or other person entitled to possession thereof, provided the person to whom title is being transferred licenses said animal and pays for rabies inoculation for said dog or cat, together with the boarding and adoption charges levied by the urban county animal shelter, and in addition thereto pays the pickup fee payable to the animal shelter provided in subsection (c) hereof.
(c) Any owner, custodian or other person entitled to the possession of a dog, cat, head of livestock, or fowl impounded under subsection (a) hereof may claim the animal upon proof that said dog or cat has been inoculated against rabies or purchase of a vaccination voucher from the animal shelter; payment of boarding charges at the rate of ten dollars ($10.00) per day, including the first and last day of impoundment, levied by the urban county animal shelter; payment to the urban county of any fine due under section 4-19(e) hereof; compliance with the redemption requirements for dogs and cats under subsection (d); and payment of a pickup fee of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for each fowl or head of livestock impounded, which pickup fee shall be paid into the general services fund of the urban county government. The agency designated by the urban county government responsible for enforcement of this ordinance may waive all impoundment and boarding fees if the impoundment of an animal resulted from an emergency situation, such as fire or natural disaster.
(d) In addition to the requirements in subsection (c) above, any owner, custodian or other person entitled to the possession of an impounded dog or cat may redeem the animal by paying a redemption fee. For the first impound within a twelve-month period, the fee is twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for an altered dog or cat and seventy-five dollars ($75.00) for an unaltered dog or cat.� For the second and each subsequent impound within a twelve-month period, the fee shall be doubled. Twenty-five dollars ($25.00) of the redemption fee� shall be paid into the general fund and the balance shall be retained by the agency designated by the department of public safety and used solely to fund the spay and neuter grant program established by section 4-21.1 of this Code. In lieu of paying the redemption fee for an unaltered animal, the owner may elect to have the animal spayed or neutered by a licensed veterinarian provided by the Lexington Humane Society, at a cost not exceeding the sum of fifty dollars ($50.00).
(Ord. No. 5387, § 4, 12-9-65; Ord. No. 58-74, § 1, 4-18-74; Ord. No. 108-77, § 1, 4-21-77; Ord. No. 168-77, § 1, 6-30-77; Ord. No. 233-96, § 5, 11-21-96; Ord. No. 316-2000, § 1, 10-26-00; Ord. No. 90-2005, § 9, 4-21-05; Ord. No. 285-2008, § 1, 12-9-08; Ord. No. 95-2009, § 1, 6-25-09; Ord. No. 142-2011, § 2, 11-3-11; Ord. No. 118-2017 , § 2, 7-11-17)