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A pet shop, boarding kennel, shelter, and any other place where animals are kept that is permitted, pursuant to 24 RCNY Health Code § 161.09 must meet the requirements of 24 RCNY Health Code Articles 131 and 151 for maintaining facilities and eliminating conditions conducive to pests. The floors, walls, implements, and cages in such place must be kept clean and in good repair, and cages must be disinfected when necessary. An individual cage must be provided for the use of each dog or cat three months of age or over except when isolation in a separate cage is medically contraindicated or animals are caged together for a humane reason. In such cases, a veterinarian must provide a written statement and any other documentation required by the Department indicating the reasons more than one animal should be caged together. Such documentation must be maintained on the premises and be available for inspection. Nothing in this Code prohibits the establishment of dog or cat group socialization or play areas in boarding facilities regulated by this Code, provided that animals allowed in such areas are certified by a veterinarian as vaccinated against rabies and free of other diseases and parasites transmissible to humans or other animals.
(Amended City Record 9/20/2017, eff. 10/10/2017)
(a) No person shall keep a live rooster, duck, goose or turkey in the City of New York except (1) in a slaughterhouse authorized by federal or state law that is subject to inspection by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets or the United States Department of Agriculture, or (2) as authorized by 24 RCNY Health Code § 161.01(a).
(b) A person who is authorized by applicable law to keep for sale or sell livestock, live rabbits or poultry shall keep the premises in which such animals are held and slaughtered and the surrounding areas clean and free of animal nuisances.
(c) Live rabbit and poultry markets. Live rabbits and poultry intended for sale shall not be kept on the same premises as a multiple dwelling as defined in section 4 of the Multiple Dwelling Law, or other residence. Coops or runways of live rabbit and poultry markets shall be located at least 25 feet away from any building.
(a) A stable for horses shall meet the requirements in 24 RCNY Health Code Article 131 governing walls, floors, ventilation, lighting and plumbing and shall have rodent proofing when required by the Department because of evidence of rat infestation. The Department, under such appropriate conditions as it may require, may allow a stable for racing horses to have in the stalls an impacted earth floor with straw, hay or similar material used for bedding.
(b) All exposed surfaces in a stable for horses shall be kept clean, and the walls, ceilings and exposed woodwork shall be whitewashed when necessary.
(c) Straw, hay or other material used as bedding shall not be placed upon a street, sidewalk or roof of a building.
(d) A horse-watering trough shall be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition and supplied with clean water.
(e) Except in unimproved areas, a stable shall not have or use a manure vault, pit or bin.
(f) All manure and other refuse shall be kept and treated within the stable in a manner satisfactory to the Department so as to minimize odors and prevent the breeding of flies or other annoying or unsanitary conditions. Manure shall either be removed daily or pressed into bales or barrels, adequately protected against flies and otherwise treated in a manner satisfactory to the Department. Manure or other stable refuse shall not be permitted to remain in a stable for more than four days.
(g) Unless special facilities satisfactory to the Department are provided for outside loading, the vehicle in which manure is to be removed shall be completely inside the stable and the stable doors shall be closed when manure is loaded. When barrels are unloaded they shall be cleaned and deodorized inside the stable in a manner satisfactory to the Department so as to prevent the creation of a nuisance.
(h) A stable yard or other area used by animals shall be kept clean, and the surface shall be graded so as to prevent the accumulation of liquids.
(i) All horses owned, boarded, used or brought into the City of New York for any purpose shall have an annual rabies vaccination. Every person who owns a horse and every person who owns or maintains a stable for horses in the City of New York shall maintain a record of such horse's rabies vaccinations and make such records available to officers, agents and employees of the Department for examination upon request. Requirements for rabies vaccination for horses shall apply to all horses housed or brought into any stable in the City of New York regardless of whether the stable is required to hold a permit issued pursuant to this Article.
(a) Sterilization required. No animal shall be released from an animal shelter for adoption by or return to a resident of the city of New York without first being spayed or neutered, except if the animal is exempt from sterilization pursuant to § 17-804 of the Administrative Code.
(b) Release to animal rescue groups. Whenever practicable, animals shall not be released by a shelter to an animal rescue group without first being spayed or neutered when such animal is being taken by the animal rescue group to assist in its adoption by others, except if, in the judgment of the shelter veterinarian, the health of the animal would be compromised by sterilization surgery at the time of release to the rescue group. No dog may be released by an animal rescue group to a person who resides in the City of New York unless the dog is sterilized and licensed pursuant to 24 RCNY Health Code § 161.04.
(c) Objections to sterilization. Any resident of the City of New York seeking to redeem an animal from a shelter and objecting to its sterilization may bring a cause of action in a court of competent jurisdiction seeking a declaration that such animal need not be sterilized.
(1) Upon delivery to the shelter operator of a bond in the amount of $20,000, the animal shall be returned to its owner.
(2) The bond amount shall be returned to the owner at the conclusion of the litigation, if the owner prevails in such litigation.
(3) The bond shall be forfeited if
(A) No cause of action is commenced within three months of the release of the animal to its owner, or
(B) The owner does not prevail in such litigation, and the animal either is (i) not returned to the shelter for sterilization or (ii) verifiable proof of sterilization is not submitted to the shelter.
(4) Spay neuter fund established. Sums collected from forfeited bonds shall be transmitted by the shelter operator to the Fund for Public Health in New York, Inc., or other not for profit agency approved by the Department, and placed in an animal spay neuter fund to be established by such fund or other agency. Expenditures of such collected sums shall be authorized by the Department to pay for free or low-cost animal sterilization services.
When the strict application of any provision of this article presents practical difficulties or unusual hardship, the Commissioner in a specific instance may modify the application of such provision consistent with the general purpose of this article and upon such conditions as, in his or her opinion are necessary to protect public health.
When used in this article: Barber shop means a store, establishment, place or premises in which one or more persons engage in the practice of barbering as defined pursuant to § 431(4) of the General Business Law but does not include the practice of medicine, dentistry, optometry, nursing, physiotherapy or osteopathy by a person licensed and registered pursuant to the Education Law.
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