The authority and responsibility for dangerous dogs is delegated to the Animal Services Department of Lincoln County per Lincoln County § 92.07 Dangerous Dogs.
(A) Dangerous dogs prohibited. It shall be unlawful for anyone to own, maintain, or harbor a dog cited and identified as a DANGEROUS ANIMAL in the county, as defined in Lincoln County § 92.02.
(1) Any dog that without provocation has killed or inflicted severe injury on a person; or any dog owned or harbored primarily or in part for the purpose of dog fighting, or any dog trained for dog fighting; or is determined by the Animal Control Supervisor or his or her designee or the Board of Animal Appeals to be potentially dangerous because the dog has engaged in one or more of the following behaviors:
(a) Inflicted a bite on a person that resulted in broken bones or disfiguring lacerations or required cosmetic surgery or hospitalization;
(b) Inflicted severe injury upon a domestic animal when not on the owner's real property; or
(c) Approached a person when not on the owner's property in a vicious or terrorizing manner in an apparent attitude of attack.
(2) This definition shall not include:
(a) A dog being used by a law enforcement officer to carry out the officer's official duties;
(b) A dog being used in a lawful hunt;
(c) A dog where the injury or damage inflicted by the dog was sustained by a domestic animal while the dog was working as a hunting dog, herding dog, or predator control dog on the property of, or under the control of, its owner or keeper, and the damage or injury was to a species or type of domestic animal appropriate to the work of the dog; or
(d) A dog where the injury inflicted by the dog was sustained by a person who, at the time of the injury, was committing a willful trespass or other tort, was tormenting, abusing, or assaulting the dog, had tormented, abused, or assaulted the dog, or was committing or attempting to commit a crime.
(3) A dog may not be deemed dangerous strictly because of its breed or part thereof.
(Prior Code, § 3-21) (Ord. O-09-18, passed 9-4-18) Penalty, see § 10.99