[Adopted 8-17-1999 by Ord. No. 472[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also provided
for the repeal of former Art. III, Cats, adopted 4-28-1998 by Ord.
No. 454.
The Town Council finds that feral cats and owned
cats that damage property of others or cause unsanitary conditions
are a nuisance and that it is appropriate and necessary, pursuant
to the authority of § 22-339d of the General Statutes, to
enact an ordinance to seek to control the population of feral cats
and to seek to eliminate the incidence of cats causing damage to property
of others or causing unsanitary conditions.
As used in this article the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A free-roaming domestic cat which is not owned.
Any person or organization harboring, regularly feeding or
having in his or its possession any feral cat.
A domestic cat owned by any person.
A.
The keepers of feral cats in residential or commercial
areas shall register, within one year of the adoption of this article,
with the Animal Control Officer at 5 Pent Road who shall thereupon
provide information regarding the proper care and management of feral
cats.
B.
The keepers of feral cats shall provide for the vaccination
of such cats against rabies and for the sterilization of such cats.
C.
The refusal to permit the Animal Control Officer to
impound a feral cat shall be deemed evidence of keeping.
D.
Any such keeper shall be considered an eligible owner
for purposes of the animal population control program established
under §§ 22-380e to 22-380m, inclusive, provided that
such cats are adopted from a municipal pound.
No person owning or keeping any cat shall permit
such animal to substantially damage property other than the property
of the owner or keeper or cause an unsanitary, dangerous or unreasonably
offensive condition. Violation of this provision shall be an infraction,
payable by a fine of $60.
A.
The Animal Control Officer may take into custody any
cat found to be damaging property other than property of its owner
or keeper or causing an unsanitary, dangerous or unreasonably offensive
condition unless such cat can be identified as under the care of its
owner or a registered keeper of feral cats. The officer shall impound
such cat at the pound unless, in the opinion of a licensed veterinarian,
the cat is so injured or diseased that it should be destroyed immediately,
in which case the Municipal Animal Control Officer may cause the cat
to be mercifully killed by a licensed veterinarian or disposed of
as the State Veterinarian may direct. The Animal Control Officer shall
immediately notify the owner or keeper of any cat so taken, if known,
of its impoundment. If the owner or keeper of any such cat is unknown,
the officer shall immediately tag or employ such other suitable means
of identification of the cat as may be approved by the Chief Canine
Control Officer and shall promptly cause a description of such cat
to be published once in the lost and found column of a newspaper having
a circulation in the Town of Wallingford.
B.
If such cat is not claimed by and released to the
owner within seven days after the date of publication, the Animal
Control Officer, upon finding such cat to be in satisfactory health,
may sell such cat to any person who satisfies such officer that he
is purchasing it as a pet and that he can give it a good home and
proper care. The Animal Control Officer may retain possession of such
cat for such additional period of time as he may deem advisable in
order to place such cat as a pet. If, within such period, any cat
is not claimed by and released to the owner or keeper or purchased
as a pet, the officer shall cause such cat to be mercifully killed
by a licensed veterinarian or disposed of as the State Veterinarian
may direct. No person who so destroys a cat shall be held criminally
or civilly liable therefor.
C.
Any cat captured or impounded under the provisions of Subsection A of this section shall be redeemed by the owner or keeper thereof, or the agent of such owner or keeper, upon proper identification and presentation to the Municipal Animal Control Officer of a license, tag or other means of identification for such cat and upon the payment by such owner or keeper or his agent of the redemption fee, which is $15, and the cost of advertising incurred under the provisions of Subsection A of this section. When the owner or keeper of any such impounded cat fails to redeem such cat within 24 hours after receiving notification to do so, or, where the owner was unknown, within 24 hours after notification was effected by means of publication in a newspaper, such owner or keeper shall pay, in addition to such redemption fee and the cost of advertising, the amount determined by the Animal Control Officer to be the full cost of detention and care of such impounded cat. In addition, any owner or keeper of any such impounded cat who fails to redeem such cat within 120 hours after receiving notification to do so shall have committed an infraction, payable by a fine of $60.
