§ 7-1-3 ISSUANCE OF DOG AND CAT AND KENNEL LICENSES.
   (a)   Dog and cat licenses.
      (1)   It shall be unlawful for any person in the village to own, harbor, or keep any dog or cat more than five months of age without complying with the provisions of Wis. Stats. §§ 174.05 through 174.10 relating to the listing, licensing, and tagging of the same.
      (2)   The owner of any dog or cat more than five months of age on January 1 of any year, or five months of age within the license year, shall annually, or on or before the date the dog or cat becomes five months of age, pay a license tax and obtain a license.
      (3)   The minimum license tax under this section shall be $3 for spayed females or neutered males. The minimum fee for unspayed or unneutered animals shall be $8. The license year shall commence January 1 and end December 31.
      (4)   Upon payment of the required license tax and upon presentation of evidence that the dog or cat is currently immunized against rabies, as required by § 7-1-2, the Village Administrator, Clerk, or highest elected official, as appropriate, shall complete and issue to the owner a license for such dog or cat containing all information required by state law. The Village Administrator, Clerk, or highest elected official, as appropriate, shall also deliver to the owner, at the time of issuance of the license, a tag of durable material bearing the same serial number as the license, the name of the county in which issued and the license year.
      (5)   The owner shall securely attach the tag to a collar and the collar with the tag attached shall be kept on the dog or cat for which the license is issued at all times, except as provided in § 7-1-2(e).
      (6)   The fact that a dog or cat is without a tag attached to the dog or cat by means of a collar shall be presumptive evidence that the dog or cat is unlicensed. Any law enforcement or humane officer shall seize, impound, or restrain any dog or cat for which a dog or cat license is required which is found without such tag attached.
      (7)   Notwithstanding the foregoing, every dog specifically trained to lead blind or deaf persons is exempt from the dog license tax, and every person owning such a dog shall receive annually a free dog license from the Village Administrator, Clerk, or highest elected official, as appropriate, upon application therefor.
   (b)   Kennel licenses.
      (1)   Any person who keeps or operates a kennel may, instead of the license tax for each dog required by this chapter, apply for a kennel license for the keeping or operating of the kennel. Such person shall pay for the license year a license tax of $30 for a kennel of 12 or fewer dogs and an additional $3 for each dog in excess of 12. Upon payment of the required kennel license tax and, if required by the Village Board, upon presentation of evidence that all dogs over five months of age are currently immunized against rabies, the Village Administrator, Clerk, or highest elected official, as appropriate, shall issue the kennel license and a number of tags equal to the number of dogs authorized to be kept in the kennel. Kennels may only be located in residential areas following a public hearing and approval by the Village Board; the Board may attach conditions to such approval as a conditional use under the village’s zoning code.
      (2)   The owner or keeper of a kennel shall keep at all times a kennel license tag attached to the collar of each dog over five months old kept by the owner or keeper under a kennel license, but this requirement does not apply to a show dog during competition, to a dog securely confined indoors, or to a dog securely confined in a fenced area. These tags may be transferred from one dog to another within the kennel whenever any dog is removed from the kennel. The rabies vaccination tag or substitute tag shall remain attached to the dog for which it is issued at all times, but this requirement does not apply to a show dog during competition, to a dog securely confined indoors, or to a dog securely confined in a fenced area. No dog bearing a kennel tag shall be permitted to stray or to be taken anywhere outside the limits of the kennel unless the dog is on leash or temporarily for the purposes of hunting, breeding, trial, training, or competition.
      (3)   The term KENNEL means any establishment wherein or whereon three or more dogs are kept.
      (4)   No kennel license shall be issued to the keeper or operator of a kennel who fails to provide proper food and drink and proper shelter for the dogs in said kennel, or who neglects or abandons said dogs. Designated officials shall investigate any complaints regarding the failure to maintain proper standards or investigate any kennel premises upon his or her own initiative. Expressly incorporated by reference in this Section as minimum standards for kennel keepers or operator are the relevant provisions of Wis. Stats. Chapter 948.
      (5)   a.   A condition of a kennel license shall be that the licensed premises may be entered and inspected at any reasonable hour by appropriate village officials without any warrant, and the application for a license hereunder shall be deemed a consent to this provision.
         b.   Any refusal to permit such inspection shall automatically operate as a revocation of any license issued hereunder and shall be deemed a violation of this section. Should any kennel be found to constitute a public nuisance, the license shall be revoked and the nuisance abated pursuant to village ordinances.
(Prior Code, § 7-1-3)
Statutory reference:
   Similar provisions, see Wis. Stats. § 174.053