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
(C) damaging or unlawfully entering the property, household, or enclosure where the animal is harbored.
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.