[Adopted 5-14-1974 (Ch. 55, Art II of the
1974 Code)]
[Amended 7-25-2000 by Ord. No. 00-6; 7-23-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09]
No household shall keep or have in its possession
more than a total of three cats and/or dogs of licensing age.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 134-28, License fee; term, as
amended; and § 134-29, Failure to obtain cat license, added 8-27-1996
by Ord. No. 96-7, as amended; were repealed 7-23-2019 by Ord. No.
2019-09.
[Added 8-27-1996 by Ord. No. 96-7; 7-23-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09]
Any person deemed to be the owner of a cat must
have proof of a valid rabies vaccination. The owner must prove that
the animal has been inoculated with a rabies vaccine of a type approved
by and administered and repeated at intervals by a duly licensed veterinarian
or by such other veterinarian permitted by law to do the same upon
request by the Borough Animal Control Officer.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 134-31, Issuance of license;
tag and bell required, was repealed 7-23-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09.
No person owning, keeping or harboring any cat,
either licensed or unlicensed, shall suffer, permit or allow it to
run at large off the premises of the owner.
[Amended 7-23-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09]
Any cat found within the limits of the Borough
of Alpha without a collar about his neck, having identifying information,
may be seized and disposed of in accordance with the provisions of
this article.
From time to time, the Mayor and Council may
provide or otherwise designate a pound to which cats seized under
the provisions of this article shall be taken; and from time to time
the Mayor and Council may appoint and employ a person to be designated
"Animal Control Officer," whose duty it shall be to seize, to impound
and to otherwise dispose of in accordance with the provisions of this
article all cats which are unlicensed, which are not wearing a collar,
a license tag and a bell as hereinabove required and which are found
running at large within the boundaries of this Borough.
The owner or any person having lawful custody
of any cat which shall have been seized under the provisions of this
article shall be entitled to redeem the same upon furnishing to the
Chief of Police satisfactory evidence of such ownership or lawful
custody and upon paying to the Chief of Police the sum of $25; provided,
however, that such application for redemption and such payment are
made within seven days after such cat shall have been seized by the
Animal Control Officer. Any such cat which shall have been seized
and impounded and which shall not have been redeemed by its owner
or other person who lawfully is entitled to its custody, as hereinabove
provided, may be redeemed by any other person upon payment of the
said redemption fee of $25, provided that such payment is made within
a period of two days after the expiration of the said initial period
of seven days subsequent to the seizure and impounding as aforesaid.
[Amended 7-23-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09]
All moneys which shall be received by the Animal
Control Officer, Borough Clerk or Chief of Police pursuant to the
provisions of this article forthwith shall be paid to the Borough
CFO or Treasurer in the same manner as he or she now is required to
remit other Borough money.
Any person who hinders, molests or interferes with the Animal Control Officer or his assistant in the discharge of his or their duties under the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction therefor, be punishable by the penalty provided by § 134-43 hereof.
None of the provisions of this article shall
be applicable to cats owned by nonresidents passing through the Borough,
nor to cats brought to the Borough and entered for exhibition at any
cat show.[1]
No person whose household has been quarantined
because a case of infectious or contagious disease exists therein
shall permit any cat owned or harbored by such person to run at large
during the period of such quarantine.
No person or persons harboring a cat suffering
from an infectious or contagious disease shall permit such cat to
run at large, but shall have the cat forthwith treated by a veterinarian
and, if the disease is incurable, shall have the cat destroyed.
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 134-41, Removal of tag or bell
prohibited, was repealed 7-23-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09.
Any cat which shall not have been redeemed by
any person or persons lawfully entitled to effect such redemption
as hereinabove provided, and after the expiration of a period of seven
days subsequent to the day of the seizure and impounding of such unlicensed
cat, forthwith shall be killed and destroyed by the Animal Control
Officer in as humane a manner as is possible, which said manner of
destruction shall be prescribed by the Mayor and Council from time
to time.
[Amended 6-22-2004 by Ord. No. 04-16]
Any person violating or failing to comply with
any of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction thereof,
be punishable by a fine of not more than $1,250, imprisonment for
a term not to exceed 90 days or a period of community service for
not more than 90 days, or any combination thereof, in the discretion
of the Judge. The continuation of such violation for each successive
day shall constitute a separate offense, and the person or persons
allowing or permitting the continuation of the violation may be punished
as provided above for each separate offense.
