§ 6-29. Owner responsibility.

(a)

(1)

All dogs and cats shall be kept from running at large at all times.

(2)

Dogs traveling in the back of a pickup truck shall be tethered at all times.

(3)

Electronic fences, incorporating the use of electrical charges as a means of restraint of an animal within a yard-like perimeter, may only be used as a secondary means of restraint and not as a replacement for actual, physical fencing or an enclosure.

(4)

Failure of owners to prevent their dog(s) or cat(s) from running at large shall constitute a misdemeanor.

(b)

No owner of a dog or cat shall permit such animal to be or to cause a nuisance.

(c)

Any dog or cat whose record of a bite or assault constitutes a physical threat to human beings or other animals, excluding provoked dogs or cats, guard or law enforcement dogs, shall be declared a vicious animal. Upon such determination by the office of animal control, or an order of the city court, the owner shall have the animal destroyed or removed from the city.

(d)

Female dogs and cats in heat shall be secured in such a manner as to prevent contact with a male of the same species except for planned breeding.

(e)

The owner of any dog or cat shall be held responsible for any behavior of the dog or cat deemed a nuisance under the provisions of this article.

(f)

The owner of any guard dog or animal that has been declared dangerous shall post his property with a dangerous animal notice obtained from the office of animal control.

(g)

It shall be unlawful for anyone to drop off, dump or abandon any animal within the city limits. This shall cover owned animals or strays which are picked up inside the city limits or outside of the city limits and are afterwards dropped off, dumped or abandoned inside of the city limits or at the city animal control center. The process of delivering an animal to the office of animal control and paying the required fees and following the office of animal control procedures shall not be considered abandonment.

(h)

Any person who, as the operator of a motor vehicle, strikes a domestic animal shall stop at once and render such assistance as may be possible and shall immediately report such injury or death to the animal's owner. If the owner cannot be ascertained and located, such operator shall at once notify the city office of animal control.

(i)

The presence of animals, other than those on fenced private real property, or those which are actually participating in a parade or other permitted public event, is prohibited within 150 feet of the parade route or the site of the public event.

(j)

It shall be unlawful for any person to own or maintain more than six domestic animals over the age of four months on private residential property within the city limits.

(Code 1966, § 4-4; Ord. No. 3450, 1-22-2008; Ord. No. 3558, 2-9-2010; Ord. No. 3848, 2-21-2017; Ord. No. 3902, 8-14-2018)