[Adopted 11-7-1991 by Ord. No. 620 (Ch. 34, Art. II, of the 1970 Code)]
Certain words, phrases and terms in this article are defined for the purposes herein as follows:
ANIMAL CONTROL AUTHORITY
Any person or agency designated or certified by the State of New Jersey to enforce the provisions of this article.
CAT
Any member of the domestic feline species, male, female or altered.
CAT OF LICENSING AGE
Any cat which has attained the age of seven months or which possesses a set of permanent teeth.
CATTERY
Any room or group of rooms, cage or exhibition pen, not part of a kennel, wherein cats for sale are kept or displayed.
LICENSING AUTHORITY
The Board of Health of the Borough of Oceanport or any designated representative thereof charged with administering the issuance and/or revocation of permits and licenses under the provisions of this article.
NEUTERED
Rendered permanently incapable of reproduction as certified by a licensed veterinarian.
OWNER
When applied to the proprietorship of a cat, includes every person having a right of property (or custody) in such cat and every person who has such cat in his/her keeping or who harbors or maintains a cat or knowingly permits a cat to remain on or about any premises occupied by that person.
PERSON
Any individual, corporation, partnership, organization or institution commonly recognized by law as a unit.
A. 
Vaccination and license requirements. No person shall keep, harbor or maintain any cat over seven months of age within the Borough of Oceanport unless such cat is vaccinated and licensed. The provisions of this section do not apply to cats held in a cattery or those held by a state or federal licensed research facility or a veterinary establishment where cats are received or kept for diagnostic, medical, surgical or other treatments or licensed animal shelters, pounds, kennels or pet shops.
B. 
Vaccination. All cats shall be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian in accordance with the latest Compendium of Animal Rabies Vaccines and Recommendations for Immunization, published by the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, except as provided in Subsection D.
C. 
Vaccination certificate. A certificate of vaccination shall be issued to the owner of each cat vaccinated on a form recommended by the state.
D. 
Exemptions. Any cat may be exempted from the requirements of such vaccination for a specified period of time by the local Board of Health upon presentation of a veterinarian's certificate that, because of an infirmity or other physical condition or regimen of therapy, the inoculation of such cat shall be deemed inadvisable.
A. 
Cats must have license number displayed. Any person who shall own, keep or harbor a cat of licensing age shall annually apply for and procure from the Borough Clerk or other official designated by the Mayor and Council to license cats in the Borough a license and official registration tag with license number or a registration sleeve for each cat so owned, kept or harbored and shall place upon such cat a collar or other device with the license number securely fastened or displayed thereto. Acceptable methods of displaying the license number shall include but are not limited to breakaway or elastic collars. License tags or sleeves are not transferable.
B. 
Time for applying for license. The owner of any newly acquired cat of licensing age or of any cat which attains licensing age shall make application for a license tag or sleeve for such cat within 10 days after such acquisition or age attainment. The requirement will not apply to a nonresident keeping a cat within the Borough for no longer than 90 days.
C. 
Cats brought into jurisdiction.
(1) 
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought into the Borough of Oceanport any cat licensed in another state for the current year and bearing a registration tag or sleeve and shall keep the same or permit the same to be kept within the Borough of Oceanport for a period of more than 90 days shall immediately apply for a license and registration tag or sleeve for each such cat.
(2) 
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought into the Borough of Oceanport any unlicensed cat and shall keep the same or permit the same to be kept within the Borough of Oceanport for a period of more than 10 days shall immediately apply for a license and registration tag or sleeve for each such cat.
D. 
Application; contents; preservation of information. The application shall state the breed, sex, age, color and markings of the cat for which the license and registration are sought and whether it is of a long- or short-haired variety and also the name, street and post office address of the owner and the person who shall keep or harbor such cat. The information on said application and the registration number issued for the cat shall be preserved for a period of three years by the Borough Clerk or other local official designated to license cats in the Borough.
E. 
License forms and tags. License forms and official tags or sleeves shall be furnished by the Borough and shall be numbered serially and shall bear the year of issuance and the name of the Borough.
F. 
Evidence of inoculation with rabies vaccine or certification of exemption; requirement for license. Neither the Borough Clerk nor any other official designated by the Mayor and Council to license cats shall grant any such license and official registration tag or sleeve for any cat unless the owner thereof provides evidence that the cat to be licensed and registered has been inoculated with a rabies vaccine of a type approved by and administered in accordance with the recommendations of the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Human Services or has been certified exempt as provided in § 127-11 of this article. The rabies inoculation shall be administered by a duly licensed veterinarian or by such other veterinarian permitted by law to do the same.
G. 
License fee schedule. A license shall be issued after payment of a fee of $11 for each unneutered cat and $8 for each neutered cat.
H. 
Fees; renewals; expiration date of license.
(1) 
A license from another municipality shall be accepted. The person applying for the license and registration tag and/or sleeve shall pay the fee fixed or authorized. The fee for the renewal of a license and registration tag or sleeve shall be the same as for the original, and said license, registration tag or sleeve and renewal thereof shall expire on the last day of January in the following year.
(2) 
Only one license and registration tag or sleeve shall be required in the licensing year for any cat in the Borough. Any valid New Jersey license tag or sleeve issued by a New Jersey municipality shall be accepted by the Borough as evidence of compliance.
I. 
Loss of license. If a license tag or sleeve has been misplaced or lost, the Borough Clerk may issue a duplicate license and/or registration sleeve for that particular cat at a fee of $1.
J. 
Proof of licensing. Proof of licensing shall be produced by any person owning, keeping, maintaining or harboring a cat upon the request of any health official, police officer, animal control officer or other authorized person.
K. 
Interfering with persons performing duties under this article. No person shall hinder, molest or interfere with anyone authorized or empowered to perform any duty under this article.
L. 
Disposition of fees collected. License fees and other moneys collected or received under the provisions of this article shall be forwarded to the Treasurer of the Borough and shall be placed in a special account separate from any of the other accounts of the Borough and shall be used for the following purposes only: collecting, keeping and disposing of cats liable to seizure; local prevention and control of rabies; providing anti-rabies treatment under the direction of the local Board of Health for any person known or suspected to have been exposed to rabies; and administering the provisions of this article. Any unexpected balance remaining in such special account shall be retained until the end of the third fiscal year following and may be used for any of the purposes set forth in this section. At the end of said third fiscal year following, and at the end of each fiscal year thereafter, there shall be transferred from such special account to the general funds of the Borough any amount then in such account which is in excess of the total amount paid into the special account during the last two fiscal years next preceding.
A. 
No person owning or having the care, custody or control of any cat shall willfully allow such animal to have free access beyond the property owned by such person without any attempt at restraint so as to permit such cat to soil or defile or to commit any nuisance upon any sidewalk, gutter, street, thoroughfare or park, in or upon any public property or in or upon the property of persons other than the owner or person having the care, custody and control of such cat.
[Amended 5-6-1999 by Ord. No. 712]
B. 
No person owning or having the care, custody or control of any cat shall willfully allow such animal to have free access beyond the property owned by such person without any attempt at restraint so as to permit it to soil or defile or do any injury or damage to any lawn, shrubbery, flowers, grounds, trees or any property of persons other than the owner or person having the care, custody or control of such cat.
[Amended 5-6-1999 by Ord. No. 712]
C. 
It shall be the duty of any person owning or having the care, custody or control of any cat to remove any feces left by such cat on any sidewalk, gutter, street, thoroughfare, park or other public area or private property not his or her own.
A. 
Any person appointed for the purpose shall take into custody and impound or cause to be taken into custody and impounded any male or female cat running at large in the Borough contrary to any of the provisions or sections of this article.
B. 
When any cat so seized has been detained for seven days after notice, when notice can be given, or has been detained for seven days after seizure, when notice cannot be given, in accordance with the laws of the State of New Jersey and if the owner or person keeping or harboring said cat has not claimed said cat and paid all expenses incurred by reason of its seizure and detention and if the cat shall be unlicensed at the time of this seizure and the owner or person keeping or harboring said cat has not produced a license and registration tag for said cat, the designated authority may cause the cat to be destroyed in a manner causing as little pain as possible.
[Amended 5-6-1999 by Ord. No. 712]
Any person convicted of violating any of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be liable to a penalty as set forth in Chapter 1, § 1-15, General penalty, for each offense.
Nothing herein contained shall in any way be construed as relieving any person from complying with any state statutes or other regulations pertaining to the licensing and registration of cats, and this article is intended to be supplementary to any provisions of any such other laws.