Chapter 14 ANIMALS

No dog or other animal may be 'at large' — off your property on a street, park, public space or open lot — unless it's under restraint (a leash of no more than 6 feet held by a responsible person) or right at your heel under voice control. Being loose off your property is declared a public nuisance and the animal can be impounded. A dog on your own property, or in a vehicle, isn't considered at large.

The animal control officer is supposed to pick up animals running at large and take them to the shelter the city council designates. Instead of impounding, the officer can return the animal to its owner and issue a summons to municipal court — even without catching the animal, if the owner is known.

Impounded animals are held until claimed or at least 4 calendar days (counting the day of pickup). To reclaim, you show proof you're the owner and pay a $25 city impoundment fee plus the shelter's fees and the cost of the animal's keep. If the animal doesn't have a current rabies shot, it must be vaccinated at your cost before release. Unclaimed animals become the shelter's property.

Yes. Every dog and cat must be vaccinated against rabies by or under a licensed veterinarian, and must wear its current vaccination tag where it can be seen. You have to show the vaccination certificate if animal control, the health department or another official asks.

The person bitten must report it immediately to the Turner County Health Department. The owner must report it too and confine the animal for observation. A healthy dog or cat that bites or scratches someone is to be confined and observed for 10 days, at the shelter, a vet, or another city-approved place, at the owner's expense.

Under the 2015 rules, the dog control officer investigates a report and can classify a dog as dangerous (for example, a bite that punctures skin without serious injury, or killing a pet off the owner's property) or vicious (inflicting serious injury). The owner gets notice within 72 hours by certified mail or overnight delivery and has 7 days to request an appeal hearing — before a board the council designates, or the county probate court if none is designated. Note: an older 2011 version with different terms and deadlines is still printed in Division 7.

Get a certificate of registration within 10 days of classification and renew it every year ($100 per year), keep the dog in a secure enclosure, and post warning signs at every entrance. Vicious dogs also need a microchip, at least $50,000 in liability insurance, and a muzzle and strong leash when outside the enclosure. The owner must notify the dog control officer within 24 hours if the dog gets loose, attacks someone, or dies.

An animal is a public nuisance if it causes a disturbance by excessive barking or other noise, chases cars, damages or defecates on someone else's property or public property (unless the owner cleans it up right away), attacks or bothers people or other animals, or creates unsanitary or dangerous conditions. Knowingly keeping a nuisance animal is a violation.

In city zoning districts other than SA (suburban agriculture), pens, kennels and other animal enclosures must be at least 25 feet from any property line. A regular perimeter fence around your yard doesn't have to meet that setback.

No livestock or poultry may run at large on public rights-of-way or be tied where they can reach the road. If you lead or drive livestock along the road, they must be on a rope, chain or similar device held by a responsible person the whole time.

If it's in the public right-of-way, the owner is supposed to remove it; if they don't, the city will remove it and bill the owner if known. On private property, the animal's owner or the property owner must remove it right away at their own cost. Dumping a dead animal on public property or someone else's land is prohibited.