A. Any animal represented by its owner to be a canine-wild animal hybrid shall be deemed to be such for the purposes of this chapter.
B. When a Pima County Animal Care officer or peace officer has reason to believe, based on the physical or behavioral characteristics of an animal, that the animal is a canine-wild animal hybrid, the animal will be presumed to be such unless the presumption is rebutted by the animal's owner. Nothing in this Section shall require Pima County to do DNA testing to determine whether an animal is a canine-wild animal hybrid.
C. Any Pima County Animal Care Officer or peace officer may issue citations to the owner of a canine-wild animal hybrid for failure to have a valid permit as required by Section 6.05.020, or for failure to comply with any other applicable provisions of Section 6.05.020. Failure to comply with any provision of Section 6.05.020 is a civil infraction, punishable by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars or more than five hundred dollars.
D. When a Pima County Animal Care officer or peace officer discovers or has knowledge of an unaltered canine-wild animal hybrid that has been owned, kept, possessed, harbored or maintained within the unincorporated county limits for more than thirty cumulative days, and if the animal is five months of age or older, the officer shall give notice to the owner that in order to avoid the animal's impoundment and forfeiture proceedings, the owner has fourteen days in which to provide proof to the Pima County Animal Care Center that the animal has been altered by a licensed veterinarian.
E. If, after receiving notice as provided in subsection D of this section, the owner fails to provide the proof of alteration as required by subsection D, the animal may be impounded. If the animal is impounded, a Pima County Animal Care officer or peace officer must provide the owner with the notice as described in Section 6.04.140 A, and the Animal Care Center shall follow the hearing procedures and the other applicable procedures as described in Section 6.04.140.
F. At the hearing, if the Justice of the Peace finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the owner has willfully and without good cause failed to have the animal altered as required by Subsection D, the Justice of the Peace shall order that the animal be forfeited to Pima County Animal Care. This procedure is remedial and not punitive.
G. Any canine-wild animal hybrid forfeited, abandoned, ownerless or unclaimed, and any other animals to be disposed of by the County enforcement agent, shall be placed by adoption in a suitable home or humanely destroyed.
(Ord. 2006-57 § 2 (part), 2006)