(A) Every owner or person having care and control of any animal shall provide the following for each animal under his or her care:
(1) Sufficient nutritious and wholesome food, served in clean containers, to maintain the animal in good health.
(2) Clean and wholesome water, served to the animal in a clean container, such water to be available to the animal at all times.
(3) Adequate shelter which shall allow the animal to remain dry and protected from the elements at all times and which shall provide either natural or artificial shade for the animal to avoid direct sunlight. If the shelter is provided by enclosure, the enclosure shall allow for adequate ventilation.
(4) Veterinary care shall be provided as needed to prevent suffering and maintain the animal in a healthy state.
(B) A person commits an offense if he beats, torments, overloads, overworks, maims, disfigures, burns or scalds, mutilates or needlessly kills an animal, or if he carries or transports an animal in any vehicle or other conveyance in a cruel or inhumane manner, or if he permits any animal to remain in its own filth or if he causes any of these acts to be done.
(C) It shall be unlawful for a person to crop a dog's ears, dock a tail, remove dew claws or perform other surgical procedures on a dog or a cat except as provided by the veterinary licensing act.
(D) It shall be unlawful for a person to use steel jaw or leg-hold traps.
(E) It shall be unlawful for an owner or other person having care and control of any animal to abandon said animal.
(F) It shall be unlawful for a person to confine an animal in a parked or standing vehicle in such a way as to endanger the animal's health, safety, or welfare. It is presumed that an animal's health, safety, or welfare is endangered when the animal is confined in a parked or standing vehicle for a period of five or more minutes when the ambient outside air temperature measures above 85 degrees Fahrenheit or below 35 degrees Fahrenheit. It shall be prima facia proof that temperature at time of violation when such temperature is verified at the Animal Control Office at 407 Industrial, Mansfield, Texas.
(G) Tethering animals.
(1) A person commits an offense if he tethers an animal to a stationary object for any length of time except as allowed by divisions (2) and (3) of this section.
(2) Restraint on the owner's property or for a lawful animal event, veterinary treatment, grooming, training, law enforcement activity, or when needed to protect the safety or welfare of a person or animal, shall be allowed provided that all of the following conditions are met:
(a) The animal's owner maintains continuous, direct physical control of the animal throughout the period of restraint;
(b) The tether is attached to a properly fitting collar or harness and is not wrapped around the animal's neck. Choke or prong-type collars are prohibited;
(c) The tether is designed and placed in a manner to prevent entanglement or injury; and
(d) The tether does not allow the animal to move outside the person's property or come within ten feet of public property if tethered outside a fenced area.
(3) A “skyline” type aerial trolley consisting of a line that is strung between two fixed points that arc at least 20 feet apart with a down line that is at least five feet in length is allowed as long as the requirements of divisions (2)(b) and (d) of this section are met and the animal is enclosed behind a fence of adequate size and strength capable of preventing the general public, including children, and other animals from entering the area.
(Ord. OR-1787-10, passed 10-11-10; Am. Ord. OR-2143-19, passed 8-26-19)