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The County Animal Shelter shall be responsible for housing all stray, unwanted or impounded animals from within the County.
(a) The Animal Control Officer shall deliver all animals taken into custody, any dog running at large, or any dog which has not been vaccinated or licensed as required by this chapter, to the Animal Shelter and may issue a summons against the owner or custodian of such animal for a violation of Section 612.13. Any animal confined pursuant to this section shall be kept for a period of not less than five working days, such period to commence on the day immediately following the day the dog is initially confined in the Animal Shelter, unless sooner claimed by the rightful owner thereof. The Department shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain whether the animal has a collar, tag, license, tattoo, or other form of identification. If such identification is found on the animal, the animal shall be held for an additional five days, unless sooner claimed by the rightful owner. If the rightful owner of the animal can be readily identified, the operator or custodian of the shelter shall make a reasonable effort to notify the owner of the animal’s confinement within the next 48 hours following its confinement.
(b) An animal impounded and not rabid or suspected of being rabid may be claimed by its owner or custodian within the appropriate holding period after the impoundment upon:
(1) Presentation of proof of ownership, and personal identification.
(2) Presentation of a current County dog license.
(3) Payment of an impoundment fee or fees in accordance with the fee schedule.
(4) Payment of boarding fees in accordance with the fee schedule.
(5) Payment of veterinary expense, if any.
(6) Presentation of a valid rabies certificate for animals other than dogs for which a vaccine is approved by the United States Department of Agriculture.
If the documents required in subsections (b)(2) and (6) of this section are not presented at the time of the animal's redemption the owner shall obtain the required documents for the animal within two weeks of redemption and provide proof of such to the Department. Failure to provide proof that the required documents have been obtained will result in the issuance of a summons.
(c) If an animal impounded pursuant to this section has not been claimed upon expiration of the appropriate holding period, it shall be deemed abandoned and become the property of the Loudoun County Animal Shelter. The owner or custodian of any such animal, who has been notified by the Department of the animal's impoundment, shall be responsible for all applicable fees, which fees shall be due and payable within ten days of the date upon which the animal becomes the property of the County.
(d) An owner or custodian shall make payment of an impoundment fee in accordance with the fee schedule should an Animal Control Officer pick up and impound an owned animal at the request of the owner.
(e) Any animal which becomes the property of the Animal Shelter pursuant to subsection (c) of this section may be (i) adopted by a resident of the County who will pay the required adoption fee and if adopting a dog, the dog license fees, if any, on such animal, provided that such resident has read and signed a statement specifying that he has never been convicted of animal cruelty, neglect or abandonment, (ii) adopted by a resident of an adjacent political subdivision of the Commonwealth who will pay the required adoption fees, provided that such resident has read and signed a statement specifying that he has never been convicted of animal cruelty, neglect or abandonment, (iii) transferred to any releasing agency within the Commonwealth, provided that each releasing agency obtains a signed statement from each of its directors, operators, staff, or animal caregivers specifying that each individual has never been convicted of animal cruelty, neglect, or abandonment and updates such statements as changes occur, (iv) adopted by any person provided that such person has read and signed a statement specifying that he or she has never been convicted of animal cruelty, neglect or abandonment; however no animal may be adopted by any person who is not a resident of the County or an adjacent political subdivision unless the animal is first sterilized, which the Animal Shelter may require be done at the expense of the person adopting the animal, or (v) humanely euthanized. Nothing contained in this subsection shall prohibit the destruction of a critically injured or critically ill animal for humane purposes.
(f) A person adopting a dog or cat that is over four months old from the Animal Shelter must obtain for the adopted animal a rabies certificate. A resident of the County adopting a dog over four months old must also obtain a County dog license. These requirements, if applicable, must be obtained within two weeks of adoption and proof of such provided to the Department. Failure to do so may result in the issuance of a summons.
(g) Owners or custodians of animals ordered quarantined by the Health Department shall be responsible for payment of an impoundment fee and the daily board, in accordance with the Department fee schedule.
(Ord. 87-11. Passed 9-21-87; Ord. 90-03. Passed 3-20-90; Ord. 00-14. Passed 12-18-00; Ord. 02-19. Passed 12-3-02; Ord. 03-12. Passed 9-15-03; Ord. 04-14. Passed 12-14-04; Ord. 17-04. Passed 2-15-17; Ord. 17-09. Passed 10-3-17; Ord. 19-14. Passed 9-11-19.)
When the owner of any animal or grown fowl which has died knows of such death, such owner shall forthwith have its body cremated or buried or request such service from an officer or other person designated for the purpose. If the owner fails to do so, any judge of a general district court, after notice to the owner if he can be ascertained, shall cause any such dead animal or fowl to be cremated or buried by an officer or other person designated for the purpose. Such officer or other person shall be entitled to recover of the owner of every such animal or fowl that is cremated or buried the actual cost of the cremation or burial and a reasonable fee to be recovered in the same manner as officers' fees are recovered, free from all exemptions in favor of such owner. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.
Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require the burial or cremation of the whole or portions of any animal or fowl which is to be used for food or in any commercial manner.
(Ord. 82-05. Passed 4-19-82; Ord. 98-11. Passed 10-7-98; Ord. 17-04. Passed 2-15-17; Ord. 17-09. Passed 10-3-17.)
(a) Dogs or cats showing active signs of rabies or suspected of having rabies shall be confined under competent observation for such a time as may be necessary to determine a diagnosis. If confinement is impossible or impracticable, such dog or cat shall be euthanized as provided in Section 612.16. Every person having knowledge of the existence of an animal apparently afflicted with rabies shall report immediately to the County Health Department the existence of such animal, the place where the animal was seen, the owner's name, if known, and the symptoms suggesting rabies.
(b) Any dog or cat, for which no proof of current rabies vaccination is available, and which is exposed to rabies through a bite, or through saliva or central nervous system tissue, in a fresh open wound or mucous membrane, by an animal believed to be infected with rabies, and which is not available for rabies testing, shall be confined in the Animal Shelter or in a kennel or enclosure approved by the Health Department for a period not to exceed six months at the expense of the owner. If confinement is not feasible, the dog or cat shall be euthanized as provided in Section 612.16. A rabies vaccination shall be administered prior to release. Inactivated rabies vaccine may be administered at the beginning of confinement. Any dog or cat so bitten, or exposed to rabies through saliva or central nervous system tissue, in a fresh open wound or mucous membrane, with proof of a current rabies vaccination, shall be revaccinated immediately following the bite and shall be confined to the premises of the owner, or other site as may be approved by the Health Department, for a period of forty-five days. If it later becomes known that the animal which bit the confined animal was not rabid, the confined animal shall be released.
(c) At the discretion of the Director of the Health Department, any animal which has bitten a person shall be confined under competent observation for ten days unless the animal develops active symptoms of rabies or expires before that. A seriously injured or sick animal may be humanely euthanized as provided in Section 612.16 and its head sent to the Health Department for evaluation. If confinement cannot, in the opinion of the Health Director, be made on the premises of the owner, the animal shall be confined in a manner approved by the Health Director, and the owner shall be responsible for an impoundment fee, if applicable, and the daily board in accordance with the fee schedule. Upon written direction from the Health Director the Animal Control Officer shall confine the animal at the Animal Shelter for the required period at the expense of the owner.
(d) When a human is exposed to rabies by a wild nondomestic, feral domestic or nonindigenous animal for which the period of rabies virus shedding, prior to the onset of clinical signs of rabies, is unknown, according to the State Department of Health, by a bite, lick, scratch or other exposure, the animal shall be immediately and humanely destroyed for rabies testing. In the case of a non-indigenous animal, where the owner submits to the Health Director a written, sworn affidavit, and, where appropriate, other reliable evidence is submitted, which shows to the satisfaction of the Health Director that the animal has never been exposed to an environment where it could possibly contract or be exposed to rabies, then the animal shall not be destroyed.
(e) (EDITOR’S NOTE: Subsection (e) was repealed by Ordinance 83-06, passed June 6, 1983.)
(f) All dogs and domesticated cats over four months of age, or older, in the County are required to have a current rabies vaccination. As used in this section, “domesticated cat” or “domestic cat” means a cat that is owned, in the possession of or being regularly fed or sheltered by a resident of the County. (Ord. 85-17. Passed 12-16-85.)
(g) When any potentially rabid animal, other than a dog or cat, exposes or may have exposed a person to rabies through a bite, or through saliva or central nervous system tissue, in a fresh open wound or mucous membrane, that animal shall be confined at the discretion of the Health Director in a manner approved by the Health Department or humanely euthanized as provided in Section 612.16 and its head sent to the Health Department for evaluation.
(h) When any animal, other than a dog or cat, is exposed to rabies through a bite, or through saliva or central nervous system tissue, in a fresh open wound or mucous membrane, by an animal believed to be afflicted with rabies, that newly exposed animal shall be confined at the discretion of the Health Director in a manner approved by the Health Department or humanely euthanized as provided in Section 612.16.
(Ord. 98-11. Passed 10-7-98; Ord. 03-12. Passed 9-15-03; Ord. 17-04. Passed 2-15-17; Ord. 17-09. Passed 10-3-17.)
(a) The following shall be deemed unlawful acts and constitute Class Four misdemeanors.
(1) Diseased dogs and cats. For the owner of any dog or cat with a contagious or infectious disease to permit such dog or cat to stray from his premises if such disease is known to the owner;
(2) Female dog in season. For the owner of any female dog to permit such dog to stray from his premises while such dog is known by such owner to be in season;
(3) Removing collar and tag. For any person, except the owner or custodian, to remove a legally acquired license tag from a dog;
(4) Concealing a dog or cat. For any person to conceal or harbor any dog for which the license tax has not been paid, or to conceal a potentially rabid dog or cat to keep the same from being killed;
(5) Animal noise. No person shall own, possess or harbor any animal which continues for ten minutes or more in duration, to howl, bark or make other sounds which are audible and discernible in any other person’s residential dwelling with the doors and windows to that other person’s residential dwelling closed. All such complaints must be verified by an Animal Control Officer or a law-enforcement officer in order for a citation to be issued. The provisions of this section shall not apply to agricultural animals that are being kept as part of farming activity.
(6) False statements. For any person to make a false statement in order to secure a dog license to which he is not entitled;
(7) Failure to purchase a license. For any dog owner who is a resident of Loudoun County and its incorporated towns to fail to pay the license tax required by this chapter, for which offense, in addition to any other penalty, the court may order confiscation and the proper disposition of the dog; (Ord. Unno. Passed 10-17-60; Ord. Unno. Passed 10-6-64; Ord. Unno. Passed 7-5-77; Ord. Unno. Passed 5-15-78; Ord. Unno. Passed 9-18-78.)
(8) Dog waste. For the owner of any dog to fail to remove immediately the dog's feces from any property that is located: In any residential subdivision; or, adjacent to such residential subdivision, except:
No action shall be brought under this paragraph for failure of a dog owner to remove the dog's feces from the premises of the dog owner, notwithstanding any contrary provision of law. This exception shall not apply to the common areas of a homeowner's association, condominium or apartment complex. (Ord. 88-18. Passed 12-19-88.)
Complaints of violations of paragraphs (a)(5), (6) and (9) hereof shall be investigated by the Department or any law enforcement officer. If, after notification by the investigating officer, any person owning, possessing or harboring a dog or companion animal, which is the source of such complaint, fails to correct the condition complained of within a reasonable period of time, a summons for a violation of paragraph (a)(5), (6) or (9) hereof shall be issued to such a person.
(9) Other violations. For any resident animal owner or other person to commit any other violation of this chapter for which a specific penalty is not provided.
(b) It shall be a Class One misdemeanor for any person to present a false claim or to receive any money on a false claim under Section 612.15.
(Ord. 98-11. Passed 10-7-98; Ord. 17-04. Passed 2-15-17; Ord. 17-09. Passed 10-3-17.)
All funds collected from any person for violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be credited to the General Fund of the County, Department of Animal Services, and deposited by the County Treasurer in the same manner as that prescribed for other County moneys.
(Ord. 98-11. Passed 10-7-98; Ord. 11-03. Passed 3-14-11; Ord. 17-04. Passed 2-15-17; Ord. 17-09. Passed 10-3-17.)
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Former Section 612.21, Dangerous or Vicious Dogs, was repealed by Ordinance 06-06, passed June 6, 2006.)
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