§ 18-1. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Animal means any live, vertebrate creature, domestic or wild.

Animal control, division of means the review and enforcement authority under the supervision of the director of sanitation, and empowered to administer this chapter.

Animal control officer means any person designated by the city as a law enforcement or animal control officer who is qualified to perform such duties under the laws of this state.

Animal shelter means any facility operated by a humane society, or municipal agency, or its authorized agents, for the purpose of impounding or caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter or state law.

Feral dog means a dog that has escaped from domestication and become wild, dangerous, or untamed.

Kennel means any premises wherein any person engages in the business of boarding, breeding, buying, letting for hire, training for a fee, or selling dogs or cats, or where there are regularly kept four or more adult dogs or cats, or any combination thereof.

Owner means any person, partnership, or corporation owning, keeping, or harboring one or more animals. An animal shall be deemed to be harbored if it is fed or sheltered.

Performing animal exhibition means any spectacle, display, act, or event, other than a circus, in which performing animals are used.

Pet means any animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.

Public nuisance means any animal which:

(1)

Molests passersby or passing vehicles;

(2)

Attacks other animals;

(3)

Trespasses on school grounds, in city parks, or in zoological parks;

(4)

Is repeatedly at large;

(5)

Damages private or public property;

(6)

Barks, whines, or howls in an excessive, continuous, or untimely fashion; or

(7)

Is allowed by its owner to become a nuisance to people or other animals.

Restraint means any animal's being secured by a leash or lead of less than six feet, within the fenced real property limits of its owner, or tethered in such a way that the animal is within the real property limits of its owner.

Running at large means any animal's being not under restraint.

Veterinary hospital means any establishment maintained and operated by a licensed veterinarian for surgery, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and injuries of animals.

Vicious animal means any animal that constitutes a physical threat to human beings or other animals.

Wild animal means any live monkey (nonhuman primate), raccoon, bear, skunk, fox, poisonous snake, leopard, panther, tiger, lion, lynx, or any other warm-blooded animal which can normally be found in the wild state and is not ordinarily domesticated by man, whether raised in captivity or in the wild.

Zoological park means any facility, other than a pet show, roadside zoo, or kennel, displaying or exhibiting one or more species of nondomesticated animal and operated by a person, partnership, corporation, or government agency.

(Code 1971, § 6-1)

Cross reference

Definitions generally, § 1-2.