Town of South Bethany, DE Chapter 30 Animals

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Town of South Bethany 3-12-2021 by Ord. No. 201-21.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]

[1] Editor's Note: This ordinance superseded former Ch. 30, Animals, which consisted of Art. I, Pets, adopted 10-8-1994 by Ord. No. 48-94, as amended 9-8-1995 by Ord. No. 50-95 and 5-9-2003 by Ord. No. 118-03; and Art. II, Wild Mammals and Stray Cats, adopted 5-12-2017 by Ord. No. 187-17.

§ 30-1 Authority.

This chapter is authorized by § C-4B of the Town Charter.

§ 30-2 Licensing; tags to be worn; tags for outdoor cats; limit on number of outdoor cats.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to own or have control of any pet over six months of age located within the corporate limits of the Town of South Bethany unless it has been licensed in pursuance of the laws of the State of Delaware, other states, territory or District of Columbia in which the owner has legal residence, and the person has maintained all required vaccinations, including rabies, for the pet.

B. It shall be unlawful for any person to own or have control of any pet over six months of age located within the corporate limits of the Town of South Bethany unless the license tag thereof be worn at all times by said pet in the manner provided by the laws of the State of Delaware, other states, territory or the District of Columbia in which the owner has legal residence.

C. The owner or lawful possessor of any cat which is a pet (as defined in this chapter), whose cat is allowed to run at large outdoors, shall procure an identification tag for said animal. The identification tag shall contain the name, address, and telephone number of the owner of the animal. Such tag shall be attached to a collar and secured around the neck of the cat.

D. It shall be unlawful for any household to have more than four cats which are allowed to run at large outdoors.

§ 30-3 Pets on beach; exception.

It shall be unlawful for any person who is the owner or has the control of any such pet to permit the pet to be on the beach located within the corporate limits of the Town of South Bethany at any time from May 15 through October 15 of each year. This subsection does not apply to pets on the property of their owners.

§ 30-4 Dogs running at large prohibited.

It shall be unlawful for any owner to permit a dog to run at large anywhere within the corporate limits of the Town of South Bethany.

§ 30-5 Removal of excrement.

The owner of a pet shall be responsible for the removal of and shall carry and use a bag or other device to pick up and remove any excrement which their pet shall drop or leave on property other than their own.

§ 30-6 Definitions.

CAT, FERAL

Feral cats are cats unaccustomed to human interaction and include any cat that has been born to a feral cat or a stray cat. Feral cats are distinct from stray cats. Feral cats are usually too fearful to be handled or adopted.

CAT, STRAY

A stray cat is a pet who has been lost or abandoned, who is used to contact with people, and is tame enough to be adopted. For purposes of this chapter, any cat found or imported into South Bethany that does not have some means of identifying its owner (i.e., an embedded chip or a collar, or a tag) will be presumed to be stray, unless its behavior fits the definition of "feral."

FEEDING

To give, place, expose, deposit, distribute or scatter any edible material that will feed, attract, or entice wild mammals, feral cats or stray cats.

OWNER

The person or persons with whom a pet resides, and/or who are responsible for the regular care and feeding of an animal, including stray cats who are being temporarily kept or maintained for the purpose of adoption or placement.

PET

Any domesticated or tamed animal that is kept as a companion and cared for affectionately. Pets shall include stray cats who are being temporarily kept or maintained for the purpose of adoption or placement.

RUN AT LARGE

For purposes of this chapter, to "run at large" means that the dog or other pet is off the owner's property and is not under control on a leash.

WILD MAMMAL

Any warm-blooded vertebrate animal of a class that is distinguished by the possession of hair or fur, and that is not domesticated. This includes any mammal which is not domesticated, including but not limited to bears, coyotes, deer, feral cats, foxes, rodents, groundhogs, opossums, raccoons, skunks, and the like.

§ 30-7 Animals as a public nuisance; prohibitions.

It shall be unlawful for any person:

A. To own, keep, harbor, possess, or maintain an animal(s) [a person is deemed to keep or harbor an animal(s) if he or she provides food for that animal] in an environment of unsanitary conditions or lack of cleanliness which results in offensive odor, or is dangerous to the public health, welfare or safety, or which increases the probability of transmission of disease.

B. To maintain property that is offensive, annoying or dangerous to the public health, safety or welfare of the community because of the number, type, variety, density, or location of the animals on the property.

C. To allow or permit a pet to damage the property of anyone other than its owner, including, but not limited to, turning over garbage containers or damaging gardens, flowers, or vegetables, or defecating upon the property of another.

D. To allow or permit a pet to produce, or cause through their action, loud noise in an excessive, continuous, or untimely fashion so as to interfere with the reasonable use and enjoyment of neighboring premises.

E. It is prohibited to keep a wild mammal within the corporate limits of the Town of South Bethany.

§ 30-8 Feeding prohibited.

Feeding wild mammals, feral cats, or stray cats anywhere in the Town of South Bethany is prohibited. A person who provides or makes food available will be deemed to violate this prohibition even when the provider claims they did not intend the food to be consumed by wild mammals, feral cats, or stray cats so long as a reasonable person would have known that the food could be consumed at least in part by wild mammals, feral cats or stray cats. The foregoing feeding prohibition shall not apply to stray cats that are being kept or harbored for the purposes of making them available for adoption and are confined indoors at all times.

§ 30-9 Ban on importation of feral or stray cats.

No person shall import or cause to be imported into the Town of South Bethany any feral or stray cat. The foregoing importation ban shall not apply to stray cats that are being imported for the purpose of making them available for adoption and that will be confined indoors at all times.

§ 30-10 Trap, neuter and return program.

Nothing in this chapter shall prohibit the use of a trap, neuter, and return (TNR) program by any person or group of persons to reduce the Town’s population of stray or feral cats. Only cats trapped in South Bethany may be returned to South Bethany as part of a TNR program.

§ 30-11 Violations and penalties.

Any person found to have violated any provision of this chapter, by any court of competent jurisdiction, shall be subject to a civil penalty of $100 for the first offense, which penalty shall increase by $100 for each subsequent violation, not to exceed $500, per continuing violation, plus court costs. Each day of continued violation shall be considered as a separate and subsequent offense.