Sec. 5-101. Definitions.

*Editor’s note—2020 L.M.C., ch. 18, § 2, states: Sec. 2. Transition. References to the Division of Animal Services in County law, contract, or regulation means the Office of Animal Services.

   Section 1 of 1999 L.M.C., ch. 10, repealed former Chapter 5, §§ 5-1 through 5-78, and enacted a new Chapter 5, §§ 5-101 through 5-404. The former Chapter 5 was derived from the following: 1975 L.M.C., ch. 4, § 1; 1977 L.M.C., ch. 28, § 3; 1980 L.M.C., ch. 23, § 1; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 8; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 25, § 1; 1984 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 8; 1984 L.M.C., ch. 25 § 8; 1984 L.M.C., ch. 27, § 8; 1985 L.M.C., ch. 8 §§ 1, 2 and 3; 1985 L.M.C., ch. 11, § 1; 1985 L.M.C., ch. 31, § 3; 1985 L.M.C., ch. 45, § 1; 1986 L.M.C., ch. 40, § 1; 1986 L.M.C., ch. 47, § 1; 1986 L.M.C., ch. 48, §§ 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5; 1988 L.M.C., ch. 34, § 1; FY 1991 L.M.C., ch. 9 § 1; CY 1991 L.M.C., ch. 26, §§ 1 and 2; 1992 L.M.C., ch. 34, § 1; 1993 L.M.C., ch. 28 § 1; 1995 L.M.C., ch. 27, § 1; 1996 L.M.C., ch. 2, § 1; 1998 L.M.C., ch. 21, § 1; 2001 L.M.C., ch. 28, §§ 1, 15 and 16. The effective date of the repeal of former sections 5-19A, 5-20 and 5-21, pursuant to 2001 L.M.C., ch. 28, § 1, is the same effective date as 1998 L.M.C., ch. 21, § 1.
   Section 2 of 1999 L.M.C., ch. 10, stated that a regulation that implements Chapter 5 continues in effect, except to the extent it is inconsistent with this Act or the regulation is repealed or amended

   Previous Section 5-26 of this Chapter is cited in Moura v. Randall, 119 Md. App. 632, 705 A.2d 334 (1998). In Cahill v. Montgomery County, 72 Md. App. 274, 528 A.2d 527 (1987), cert. denied, 311 Md. 286, 533 A.2d 1308 (1987), the court held that an administrative search of a private residence conducted under previous § 5-18(a) and (b) must comport with the principles of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which requires the prior obtaining of a search warrant predicated upon a demonstration of probable cause. The court held further that "probable cause" for the issuance of an administrative search warrant is not the same as that required in a criminal case but rather may be established on the basis of specific evidence of an existing violation or upon a showing that reasonable legislative or administrative standards for conducting an inspection are satisfied. Cahill also quoted previous § 5-45.

*Cross references-Slaughterhouses, ch. 46; feeding of garbage to swine, § 48-12; animals prohibited in public transit facilities, § 54A-2.

ARTICLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

In this Chapter, the following words and phrases have the following meanings:

Alter: To castrate or perform an ovario-hysterectomy to make an animal physically incapable of reproducing.

Animal: An animate being capable of voluntary movement, other than humans. Specifically, a non-human species in the biological kingdom Animalia.

Animal control officer: The Executive Director of the Office, or the Executive Director’s designee.

Animal shelter: A facility owned or operated by, or under contract with, the County for the care, confinement, or detention of animals.

Appropriate authority: For purposes of State law regarding animals, the Office, the Board, and any other agency or official designated by regulation.

At large: A dog, except a service animal, is at large if it is outside the owner’s premises and not leashed, unless it is in a dog exercise area designated by either the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission or a municipality, or is participating in a qualified activity. Any other animal is at large if it is outside the owner’s premises and is not leashed or immediately responsive to verbal or non- verbal direction. For purposes of this Chapter or any other animal control law, the common area of a homeowners’ association, condominium, or cooperative is not the owner’s premises.

Aviary: A place for keeping birds confined.

Benevolent organization: A non-profit organization, registered with the Office, that cares for stray or homeless animals.

Bite: Seizing or wounding with the teeth or mouth that causes pain or injury. A minimal medical or cosmetic injury, such as a puncture or bruise or damaged clothing, must be shown as evidence of a bite.

Board: The Animal Matters Hearing Board.

Cage: An enclosure of limited space, enclosed on the bottom and on all 4 sides, in which animals are placed for any purpose, including confinement or display.

Commercial enterprise: An establishment whose primary function is to sell products, services, or commodities.

Commercial kennel: An establishment to sell animals or breed them for sale, or that provides boarding, grooming, or training for animals for a fee. Commercial kennel does not include:

(1) an animal hospital maintained by a licensed veterinarian; or

(2) a fancier's kennel.

Cross-tethering: A manner of securing an animal firmly by tying the animal from at least two different directions.

Dangerous animal: A dangerous animal as defined in Section 5-202.

Disposition: Adoption or other placement of a domestic animal, release of a wild animal into a suitable habitat, or humane euthanasia administered in a manner approved by the Office.

Domestic animal: An animal of a tamed species commonly kept as pets or livestock.

Dwelling: A building or portion of a building that provides complete living facilities for people, including facilities for cooking, sanitation, and sleeping. Dwelling does not include a garage or extended structure separate from a house.

Executive Director: The Executive Director of the Office or the Executive Director’s designee.

Exotic animal: A non-native species kept as a pet or livestock, other than a rodent, rabbit or hare, or hoofed animal.

Facility: A building or land, other than a veterinary hospital, for boarding, breeding, or care of domestic animals (except animals raised for agricultural purposes) for profit.

Fancier: A person who owns or keeps 3 or more dogs or cats for noncommercial hunting, tracking, exhibition in shows, or field or obedience trials. Fancier does not include a person who keeps:

(1) 3 or more male dogs or cats primarily for commercial stud services; or

(2) 3 or more female dogs or cats that each bear offspring more than once in a 12-month period.

Fancier's kennel: A private kennel maintained by a fancier to keep or train dogs or cats.

Groomer: An individual who provides bathing and haircutting of pets for compensation.

Guard dog: A dog trained to protect persons or property or to attack on command. Guard dog includes a dog serving a law enforcement agency, unless otherwise indicated. See Section 5-202(h).

Harbor: To provide food or shelter to an animal.

Health Officer: The County Health Officer or the Officer's designee.

Healthful: Hygienic conditions that maintain health and prevent disease in a particular species of animal.

Keeper: A person who maintains a facility regulated by this Chapter.

Livestock: Horses, cattle, sheep, goats, swine; domesticated rabbits and hares; commercially raised fur-bearing animals; and similar animals.

Mammal: An animal of any species of higher vertebrates that nourish their young with milk secreted by mammary glands and have skin covered with hair.

Non-commercial kennel: A building or land for boarding, breeding, or care of domestic animals that belong to the owner of the building or land and are kept for show or hunting, or as pets. Non- commercial kennel does not include an equestrian facility.

Obedience trained: An animal trained to heel on and off a leash and obey commands to come to its owner, sit, lie, and stand until further command. Heel means to move along at the heels of a person controlling the animal.

Office: The Office of Animal Services.

Owner: A person who, regardless of whether the person has legal title to the animal:

(1) temporarily or permanently harbors or controls an animal;

(2) has a property right in an animal; or

(3) allows a person under 18 years old to harbor or control an animal.

Owner does not include a veterinary hospital, commercial kennel, or pet shop (regarding an animal being treated, boarded, or offered for sale, respectively), or an employee of these enterprises unless otherwise indicated in this Chapter.

Pet shop: A commercial enterprise that offers for sale any species of live animal. Pet shop does not include an enterprise that offers only livestock for sale.

Potentially dangerous animal: A potentially dangerous animal as defined in Section 5-202.

Provocation: An animal’s behavior is provoked if the behavior is:

(1) in response to current or previous tormenting, teasing, abuse, threat, or assault by a person or animal;

(2) in response to pain or injury;

(3) to protect the animal, its offspring, or other animals in the same household; or

(4) directed against a person who is:

(A) not lawfully present where the action or behavior occurs:

(B) injuring, threatening, or endangering the animal’s owner or another person in the vicinity; or

Public nuisance: A condition or repeated behavior that unreasonably interferes with or harms public health, safety, or peace. Public nuisance includes the conditions or repeated behaviors described in Section 5-203(b).

Qualified activity: A legal, supervised animal activity using humane practices, such as hunting, chasing, obedience or agility training, herding, tracking, or search and rescue.

Riding school or stable: An equestrian facility, as defined in Section 59-A-2.1.

Rodent-proof: Resistant to the entry, feeding, harboring, or breeding of rodents.

Sanitary: A condition of good order and cleanliness that reduces the spread of disease.

Service animal: Any guide or signal dog or other animal trained to work or perform tasks for a person with a disability, including guiding a person with impaired vision, alerting a person with impaired hearing to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or fetching dropped items, or any dog used by the Department of Police, Sheriff’s Office, Fire and Rescue Service, Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security, or any federal or state law enforcement or search and rescue agency.

Species: A biological classification more specific than a genus or subgenus, describing related animals with common attributes capable of interbreeding.

Trainer: An individual who provides animal behavior modification services or classes for a fee.

Unwanted contact: An animal’s unwelcome or unsolicited threatening physical contact or close proximity to a person or a domesticated animal that occurs outside of an owner’s property and causes alarm in a reasonable person, such as biting, chasing, tracking, inhibiting movement, or jumping.

Wild animal: An animal of a species of an untamable disposition, a species in a state of nature, or a native self-sustaining species. All animals of these species are wild animals even if a particular animal has characteristics that reflect domestication or taming. (1999 L.M.C., ch. 10, § 1; 2000 L.M.C., ch. 6, § 1; 2001 L.M.C., ch. 2, § 1; 2005 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 1; 2008 L.M.C., ch. 5, § 1; 2017 L.M.C., ch. 22, §1; 2017 L.M.C., ch. 36, §1; 2020 L.M.C., ch. 18, §1.)

Editor’s note—2008 L.M.C., ch. 5, § 3, states: Sec. 3. Any regulation in effect when this Act takes effect that implements a function transferred to another Department or Office under Section 1 of this Act continues in effect, but any reference in any regulation to the Department from which the function was transferred must be treated as referring to the Department to which the function is transferred. The transfer of a function under this Act does not affect any right of a party to any legal proceeding begun before this Act took effect.

See County Attorney Opinion dated 1/24/99 explaining that a non-merit position in Animal Control Division need not be filled.

Sec. 5-102. Administration.

(a) Office duties. The Office administers this Chapter.

(1) The Office must:

(A) provide an animal shelter program;

(B) assist and cooperate with the Health Officer and State officials in carrying out an anti-rabies program, including vaccination of dogs, cats, and ferrets, as required by State law and this Chapter;

(D) provide education programs regarding the humane treatment of animals;

(E) provide wildlife management; and

(F) provide a spay-neuter program.

(2) The Office may provide other services and programs to promote the humane treatment of animals and protect public health and welfare from animal-related hazards.

(b) Executive Director. The Executive Director of the Office must:

(1) maintain records of any license issued under this Chapter for an animal or facility;

(2) supervise any animal shelter;

(3) maintain permanent records of:

(A) animals impounded or otherwise harbored by an animal shelter;

(B) animals inoculated against rabies; and

(4) collect and dispose of any dead wild, domestic, or exotic animal the size of an opossum or larger, found on a County road or other County property (and may do the same for this type of animal found on other property) and must recover from any identifiable owner of the animal a collection and disposal fee; and

(5) enforce this Chapter and, concurrently with other authorized County officials, Chapter 31B (Noise Control) for a noise disturbance by an animal.

(c) Animal shelter. The County must, directly or by contract, maintain and operate an animal shelter or other place of confinement. The shelter must remove, harbor, care for, and dispose of any animal that the Office finds is abused, homeless, unwanted, abandoned, or neglected, or threatens the health, safety, peace, or security of the public.

(d) Care of animals. The County may contract with veterinarians or animal hospitals to care for injured or diseased animals whose owners are unknown, that the County or its agents collect, or that any person brings to the animal shelter.

(e) Enforcement of animal control laws. To the extent allowed by State law, the Office may enforce any State animal control law and any law under this Chapter. A reference in a State animal control law to the “appropriate authority” (or any similar term) in the County means the Office and any other County agency designated by regulation adopted under Method (3). (1999 L.M.C., ch. 10, § 1; 2001 L.M.C., ch. 2, § 1; 2017 L.M.C., ch. 36, §1; 2020 L.M.C., ch. 18, §1.)

Sec. 5-103. Regulations.

The County Executive may adopt regulations to implement this Chapter under method (2) or another method specified in this Chapter. The Executive may establish fees under this Chapter by regulation adopted under method (3). (1999 L.M.C., ch. 10, § 1.)

Sec. 5-104. Animal Matters Hearing Board.

(a) Jurisdiction.

(1) As provided in this Chapter, the Animal Matters Hearing Board has jurisdiction to hear:

(A) original complaints involving allegations of violations of this Chapter or a violation of the terms of an adoption agreement; and

(B) appeals from any decision or order of the Executive Director.

(2) The Board must not enter an order that conflicts with a decision of the County Circuit or District Court.

(3) The Board must not hear a complaint or an appeal involving the seizure of an animal if the owner has been arrested and charged with violating any provision of Title 10, Subtitle 6 of the Criminal Law Article or Section 21-1004.1 of the Transportation Article of the Maryland Code until the charges have been finally resolved by the court with jurisdiction.

(b) Complaints. A person may file a complaint with the Board alleging a violation of this Chapter or a violation of an animal shelter adoption contract. A complaint must be filed within one year after the alleged violation occurred.

(1) The Animal Matters Hearing Board consists of 7 members appointed by the County Executive and confirmed by the County Council. The Board must include:

(A) a representative of licensed animal fanciers;

(B) a representative of the County Humane Society; and

(2) The Executive may remove a member who misses three meetings during a fiscal year without permission of the Chair.

(3) Each member serves for 3 years or until a successor takes office, whichever is later. A person appointed to fill a vacancy fills the remainder of the predecessor’s term.

(4) The Board must elect a Chair each year from among its members.

(d) Duties. The Board must:

(1) decide complaints and appeals under this Chapter, including complaints alleging a violation of an animal shelter adoption contract;

(2) recommend standards to maintain regulated facilities; and

(3) report annually to the Executive and Council on the Board’s activities and any recommendations for improving animal control laws, regulations, and programs.

(e) Authority. The Board may:

(1) Order the Executive Director to seize, impound, destroy, or take any other action the Board decides is necessary regarding an animal that is suffering cruelty, dangerous or potentially dangerous, or causing a public nuisance or other violation of this Chapter.

(2) Specify conditions under which an owner may keep an animal that the Board finds has suffered cruelty, is dangerous or potentially dangerous, or caused a public nuisance or other violation of this Chapter.

(3) Require an owner to forfeit an animal to the County or prohibit the owner from harboring an animal in the County.

(4) Impose conditions on an owner harboring other animals in the County.

(5) Revoke or suspend a facility’s license for a violation of this Chapter.

(6) Appoint a person to mediate a case if the owner and each complainant (which may include the Office) agree. A consent order resulting from mediation is an order of the Board. If the mediator or the Board finds that the parties are not likely to agree to a mediated consent order within a reasonable time, the Board must decide the case.

(7) Order the owner of an animal to pay actual damages (including medical or veterinary expenses) not exceeding $1,000 to a person injured or aggrieved by the animal’s actions or behavior. This limit applies separately to each incident resulting in a violation of an animal control law.

(8) In a case based on a complaint or appeal, the Board, in addition to ordering the payment of damages, may order the losing party to pay filing fees or other reasonable hearing-related expenses.

(f) Procedures. Hearings on Original Complaints.

(1) The Administrative Procedures Act (Chapter 2A) applies to the Board’s hearings and decisions, unless otherwise expressly provided in this Chapter. The Board may issue procedural rules to implement this subsection. The Board may hold an emergency hearing under Section 2A-9.

(2) Except as provided in Section 2A-9, the Board must provide notice of any hearing to the parties at least 15 days before the hearing. The parties may agree to a shorter notice period. The Board may provide notice by first class mail, which is effective 3 days after the notice is placed in the mail, postage prepaid, to the last known address of the person to whom the notice is addressed.

(g) Fee. The Executive may set by regulation a fee for filing a complaint with the Board. The filer must pay the fee to the Office. The Board or the Animal Control Officer may waive the filing fee in response to a written request. If the parties agree to a consent order after mediation, the Board may refund the filing fee.

(h) Support. The Chief Administrative Officer must provide the services and County facilities that are reasonably necessary for the Board to perform its duties. The County Attorney must provide legal counsel to the Board. The Chief Administrative Officer may employ or retain a veterinarian to furnish technical expertise as the Board needs. (1999 L.M.C., ch. 10, § 1; 2001 L.M.C., ch. 2, § 1; 2005 L.M.C., ch. 22, § 1; 2005 L.M.C., ch. 24, § 1; 2016 L.M.C., ch. 12, § 1; 2020 L.M.C., ch. 18, §1.)

Editor’s note—Section 5-104 is cited in Montgomery County v. Post, 888 A.2d 1224 (2005), regarding the standard of review in administrative appeals.

See County Attorney Opinion dated 7/8/02 describing the extent to which quasi-judicial officials may engage in political activities. See County Attorney Opinion dated 2/27/00 explaining that the term “veterinary technician” does not require a person to be registered with the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners. See County Attorney Opinion dated 4/13/99-A discussing what should occur when an Ethics Commission member holds over as a result of the Council not having confirmed a newly appointed member. (Opinion refers to former § 5-9.)

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