(A) (1) In the event that a vicious animal is found at large and unattended upon public property, park property, public right-of-way or the property of someone other than its owner, thereby creating a hazard to persons or property, such animal may, in the sole discretion of the Animal Warden, be destroyed if it cannot be safely captured or confined. The city shall be under no duty to attempt the confinement or capture of a vicious animal found at large, nor shall it have a duty to notify the owner of such animal prior to its destruction. Upon the complaint of any individual that a person is keeping, sheltering or harboring a vicious animal on premises in the city, the Animal Warden, accompanied by the police officer if necessary and available, or a police officer, shall cause the matter to be investigated. If, after such investigation as the Chief of Police or the Animal Warden deem necessary, on their own initiative or as a result of a complaint hereunder, it is determined that a person is keeping, sheltering or harboring a vicious animal in the city which has not been licensed as a vicious animal under this chapter, or which has been found to be at large after being deemed vicious, the Police Chief, or his or her designee, or the Animal Warden, shall order the person keeping, sheltering or harboring the vicious animal within three days of service of the order to either safely and permanently place the animal with an organization or group determined by the Animal Warden to be safe to keep vicious animals or destroy the animal. The order herein shall be contained in a written notice directed to the person or persons keeping, sheltering or harboring the vicious animal and shall be served in the manner of personal service under the Iowa Rules of Civil Procedure, or by both regular and certified mail and shall be effective upon placement of the notice in a United States Post Office receptacle. The notice shall also advise the persons to whom it is directed of their right to appeal the order by delivering to the City Clerk within three days of the personal service or five days of the mailing by regular and certified mail, a written notice of appeal which provides the names and addresses of the owners of the vicious animal, names the vicious animal and states the grounds upon which the appeal is based. Within seven days of receiving a notice of appeal hereunder, the City Clerk shall send by regular mail to the appellant(s) at the address provided in the notice of appeal, a written notice of the time, date and place for the hearing, the name of the Hearing Officer appointed by the City Administrator to conduct the appeal and the rights of the appellants to present evidence, to be represented by an attorney at their own expense, to conduct cross-examination of the witnesses presented by the city and to preserve a transcript of the proceedings on appeal at their own expense. The decision on appeal shall be issued in writing within seven days of the appeal hearing by regular mail to the address provided in the notice of appeal.
(2) Any person who has received a notice under this section who removes or transfers possession of the vicious animal, except in strict compliance with the orders of the Police Chief, Animal Warden or Appeals Hearing Officer, shall be subject to a civil penalty as a municipal infraction.
(2013 Code, § 6-55)
(B) Failure to comply with an order of the Animal Warden or police officer, issued pursuant to this chapter and not appealed, or an order of the City Administrator or Hearing Officer on appeal, pursuant to this chapter, constitutes a violation of this chapter.
(2013 Code, § 6-51)
(Ord. 14707, passed 3-10-2003; Ord. 14801, passed 3-12-2007; Ord. 14919, passed 5-13-2013)