[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Derry as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Parks and recreation — See Ch. 132.
[Adopted 9-13-1988 by Ord. No. 298]
The purpose of this article is to control domestic animals within the Township of Derry so that they do not cause a public nuisance or infringe upon the property rights or free and enjoyable use of public and private property of the residents of Derry Township.
For purposes of this article, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
Any living animal, other than man, which has been tamed, captured or otherwise kept for the purpose of agricultural use or the enjoyment of its owner regardless of whether the animal is licensed or unlicensed.
OWNER
Any person having a right of property in any domestic animal or having custody of any domestic animal, or any person who harbors or permits a domestic animal to remain on or about his property. For purposes of this article a "custodian" shall have the same responsibilities and duties as an "owner."
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, association or private corporation and, in the case of associations, the members thereof, and in the case of private corporations, the officers thereof.
RUNNING AT LARGE
Being upon any public highway, street, alley, park, or any other public land, or upon the property of a person other than the owner, and not being accompanied by or under the control of the owner or any other person having custody of a domestic animal.
All domestic animals shall be under the control of their owner or custodian at all times, by means of leash, harness, rope, tether, fence, cage, training or other means of restraint, so that the animal does not run at large, move at will, or is otherwise unconstrained from entering on property other than that of its owner or custodian without permission of the other property owner.
No domestic animal shall be allowed to enter onto public property either at its will or under the control of its owner or custodian when and/or where the public entity owning the property has prohibited domestic animals from being on the property by regulation or by posting notice on the property. Further, it shall be the responsibility of the owner or the custodian of any domestic animal to be aware of and obey posted regulations, requirements and/or conditions established for allowing domestic animals to be on any particular public property.
The owner or custodian of any domestic animal shall remove immediately any feces or vomit deposited by his/her domestic animal on any public street or street right-of-way, including the sidewalk and any other part of the street right-of-way, such as the grass boulevard between the street and the private property line; on any public parkland or public use area; or on any property of which such person is not the owner or tenant. The feces or vomit deposited by a domestic animal on any property other than that of the owner or custodian of the domestic animal shall be collected by the owner or custodian in a sanitary fashion and returned to his/her property for sanitary disposal.
A. 
No domestic animal shall be allowed by its owner or its custodian to howl, bark, meow or make any other sound frequently or for a continued duration which creates a noise disturbance which deprives or causes unreasonable interference with the peace, quiet, rest or sleep of any person or persons not the owner or custodian of the animal causing the noise.
B. 
Noise made by any domestic animal will be considered a public nuisance if the noise if continuous or incessant for a period of 15 minutes or such noise is intermittent for one hour or more; provided, that at the time the animal is making such noise no person is trespassing or threatening to trespass upon the private property in or upon which the animal is situated, nor is there any legitimate cause which justifiably provokes the animal.
C. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to continue to own, harbor, possess or otherwise keep an offensively noisy domestic animal, which shall be defined as a domestic animal which has caused its owner or custodian to be cited and convicted of more than two violations of this § 61-6. Payment of fine and costs shall be deemed a conviction for purposes of this § 61-6.
It shall be unlawful for any person or persons whether the owner of the animal or not, to mistreat, abuse or to cause bodily injury to any domestic animal or otherwise to inhumanely dispose of such animal. For purposes of this § 61-7, mistreatment shall include, but not be limited to, not providing for the proper care, shelter, feeding and medical treatment of a domestic animal by its owner or custodian.
Any person or persons who owns or has custody of any domestic animal that has injured any person or any other animal by biting that person or animal, must keep said animal in quarantine for no less than 14 days from the time said person or other animal was bitten, and shall notify the Derry Township Police Department of the incident within one hour after discovery that the animal bit any person or any other animal.
All owners or custodians of domestic animals, of a species for which veterinarians normally recommend a rabies inoculation, shall have said animal inoculated for rabies within two weeks after becoming the owner or custodian of the animal or within two weeks after becoming a resident of Derry Township.
Any domestic animal running at large or otherwise not in the control or under the restraint of its owner or custodian may be captured by a police officer of Derry Township or other duly authorized employee or contractor of Derry Township. Any animal captured shall be humanely boarded and dealt with in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The owner or custodian of any domestic animal so captured shall be in violation of the terms of this article and may be so cited, and shall be liable for all of the costs of the capture, boarding and disposition of the animal.
Any domestic animal running at large or out of the control of its owner or custodian that, in the judgment of a duly appointed police officer of Derry Township, poses a threat to the life or physical well-being of any person or persons may be destroyed as humanely as possible by the officer when, in the judgment of the officer, capture or containment of the animal is not possible without further risking the health and safety of the public.
A. 
Enforcement notice.
(1) 
If it appears to the Township that a violation of this article has occurred, the Township shall initiate enforcement proceedings by sending an enforcement notice as provided in this section.
(2) 
The enforcement notice shall be sent to the violator and, if applicable, the owner of record of the parcel on which the violation has occurred, to any person who has filed a written request to receive enforcement notices regarding that parcel and to any other person requested in writing by the owner of record.
B. 
Enforcement remedies.
(1) 
Any person, partnership or corporation who or which has violated or permitted the violation of the provisions of this article shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil enforcement proceeding commenced by the Township, pay a judgment of not more than $600 plus all court costs, including reasonable attorney fees incurred by the Township as a result thereof. No judgment shall commence or be imposed, levied or payable until the date of the determination of a violation by the district justice. If the defendant neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce the judgment pursuant to the applicable rules of civil procedure. Each day that a violation continues and each section of this article which shall be found to have been violated shall constitute a separate violation.
(2) 
Nothing contained in this section shall be construed or interpreted to grant to any person or entity other than the Township the right to commence any action for enforcement pursuant to this section.
(3) 
District justices shall have initial jurisdiction over proceedings brought under this section.
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Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).