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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 91-122-CCSECTIONS: 9.07.010 9.07.020 9.07.030 9.07.040 9.07.050 9.06.060 9.07.070 9.07.080 9.07.090 9.07.100 9.07.110 9.07.120 9.07.130 9.07.140 9.07.150 9.07.160 9.07.170 RESOLUTION NUMBER 91 -122 -CC ORDINANCE NUMBER- CHAPTER 9.07 POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS DOG CONTROL AND DANGEROUS DOG REGISTRATION Declaration of Policy Definitions Damage Liability Notification Responsibilities of Owner,, Registration Rabies Control Potentially Dangerous Dog Guard Dogs Interference with Animal Fees Records Penalties Subsequent Offenses Chapter Supplementary Severability Effective Date Control Officer 9.07.010 DECLARATION OF POLICY: It is hereby declared to be the policy of the County to minimize exposure of citizens to the threat of potentially dangerous dogs, and regulate same, pursuant to RCW 16.08.090. 9.07.020 DEFINITIONS: For purposes of this chapter the following words and phrases used herein shall have the designated meaning unless a different meaning is expressly provided. (1) "Potentially Dangerous Dog" means any dog that when unprovoked: (a) inflicts bites on a human or a domestic animal either on public or private property, or (b) chases or approaches a person upon the streets, roads, sidewalks, private property, or any public grounds in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack, or any dog with a known propensity, tendency or disposition to attack unprovoked, to cause injury, or to cause injury or otherwise to threaten the safety of humans or domestic animals. (2) "Owner" means any person, firm, corporation, organization or department possessing, harboring, keeping, having an interest in, or having control or custody of a dog. (3) "Quarantine" means the placing and restraining of the dog within a proper enclosure for a potentially dangerous dog so that the dog can be observed for a specified period of time without any contact with animals or humans, other than the caretaker, animal control officer, or state licensed veterinarian. For this ordinance, the quarantine shall be a period of ten consecutive days. (4) "Vaccination Record" means information contained in the records of a licensed veterinarian that establishes the rabies vaccination record of the dog. (5) "Dog" means any member of the zoological family Canidae, feral or domesticated. (6) "Domestic Animal" means any living creature, except man, that has been tamed, including but not limited to pets or livestock. (8) "Stray Dog" means a dog that has no identifiable owner, after reasonable inquiry. (7) "Isolation" means the removal of the dog by the Grant County Sheriff, or designee, including but not limited to the animal control officer, and placement in quarantine, so that the dog can be observed for a specified period of time without any contact with animals or humans, other than the animal control officer and/or veterinarian staff of the shelter contracted for such quarantine cases. (9) "Proper enclosure of a potentially dangerous dog" means, while on the owner's property, a potentially dangerous dog shall be securely confined indoors or in a securely enclosed and locked pen or structure, suitable to prevent the entry of young children and designed to prevent the dog from escaping. Such pen or structure shall have secure sides and a secure top and flooring, and shall also provide adequate exercise space and protection from the elements for the dog. Proper enclosure will include "Beware of Dog" signs attached to the pen or structure housing the potentially dangerous dog that are readable from a minimum of fifty feet, or readable from any public access, street, road, or alley. Proper enclosure shall be structured as to protect any child from injury and from releasing the potentially dangerous dog. (10) "Animal control authority" means the Grant County Sheriff's Office or designee, or an entity acting alone or in concert with other local governmental units for enforcement of the animal control laws of the city, county, and state and the shelter and welfare of animals. (11) "Animal control officer ACO" means any individual empowered, employed, contracted with, or appointed by the animal control authority or the county for the purpose of aiding in the enforcement of this ordinance or any other law or ordinance relating to the licensure of animals, control of animals, or seizure and impoundment of animals, and includes any state or local law enforcement officer or other employee whose duties in whole or in part include assignments that involve the seizure and impoundment of any animal. (12) "Dangerous Dog" has the meaning given in Chapter 16.08 RCW. (13) "Guard Dog" means a dog trained to protect persons or property by attacking or threatening to attack any person found within the area patrolled by the dog. (14) All other words and phrases used herein will have their commonly accepted meanings. 9.07.030 DAMAGE LIABILITY: The owner of any dog that is determined to be potentially dangerous shall be liable for damages, including but not limited to, personal property, real property or physical injury, that may be suffered or incurred by a person bitten while that person is in or on a public place or lawfully in or on a private place, including property of the owner of such dog. This liability shall be regardless of the former viciousness of the dog, or the owner's knowledge of such viciousness. (1) Exemption: Proof of provocation of the attack by the victim shall be a complete defense to an action for damages. A person is lawfully upon the private property of such owner within the meaning of RCW 16.08.040 when such person is upon the property of the owner with the express or implied consent of the owner: Provided, that said consent shall not be presumed when the property of the owner is fenced or reasonably posted. 9.07.040 NOTIFICATION: The Grant County Sheriff's Department or designee will notify the owner as soon as practicable after a violation of 9.07.080, to be followed up in writing, that he or she owns a potentially dangerous dog. 9.07.050 RESPONSIBILITIES OF OWNER: It shall be the responsibility of the owner or custodian of any dog within the corporate limits of the county to so control and care for their dog so as to prevent and keep that dog from being in violation of this chapter. In any proceeding to enforce the provisions of this chapter, it shall be conclusively presumed that the owner or custodian of any dog within the corporate limits of the county is aware of the dogs whereabouts, condition, or method of being treated and/or maintained. The owner or custodian of any dog within the corporate limits of the county shall be responsible for any cost, charge, fee, or expense of any nature incurred by the county in capturing, controlling, caring for, or destroying any dog in violation of this chapter. Without limitation but by way of illustration, the following are examples of costs, charges, fees, and expenses which the owner or custodian shall be responsible to pay to the county: board charges, tranquilizer costa, euthanasia costs, veterinary expenses. 9.07.060 REGISTRATION: Pursuant to RCW Chapter 16.08, the county Is required to regulate and issue certificates of registration for dangerous dogs. Such certificate shall be issued on an annual basis with no proration of the fee provided for herein for less than a full year's registration of a dangerous dog. The annual registration period shall extend from January 1 through December 31 of each calendar year. It shall mbe the duty of each owner to obtain a current registration for a dangerous dog prior to January 1 of each year, or the cost of registration shall be doubled. The annual fee for registration of a dangerous dog shall be two hundred dollars (;200). 9.07.070 RABIES CONTROL: (1) Any dog that has bitten any person shall be immediately confined at the animal shelter at the owner's or custodian's expense for a period of not less than ten days. No dog under confinement shall be released from confinement until such release has been approved in writing by the ACO. (2) It shall be unlawful for the owner of any dog that has bitten any person to destroy such dog before it can be properly confined by the ACO. The location of such confinement shall be determined by the ACO and shall be at the expense of the owner. (3) The owner of any dog that has been reported as having inflicted a bite on any person shall, on demand of an ACO, produce such dog for examination and quarantine as prescribed in this section. If the owner, his agent, servant or competent member of his family, or any custodian of any such dog refuses to produce such dog, the owner, his agent, servant or competent member of his family, or any custodian shall be subject to immediate arrest if there -shall be probable cause to believe that the dog has inflicted a bite upon a person and the owner, his agent, servant or competent member of his family, or any custodian is keeping or harboring the dog and willfully refuses to produce the dog upon such demand. Such persons shall be taken before a judge of the District Court, who may order the immediate production of the dog. If the owner, his agent, servant or competent member of his family, or any custodian of such dog shall willfully or knowingly secrete or refuse to produce the dog, each day of secretion or refusal to produce the dog shall constitute a separate and individual violation of this section. (4) When a dog under quarantine has been diagnosed as being rabid by a licensed veterinarian, the veterinarian making such diagnosis shall immediately notify the County Public Health Officer and advise him of any reports of human contact with such rabid dog. If any dog under quarantine dies while under observation, the ACO or his agents shall immediately take action to obtain a pathological and inoculation examination of the dog. As soon as a diagnosis is made available, the ACO shall notify the County Public Health Officer of any reports of human contact with the dog. Any dog which has not been inoculated against rabies and known to have been bitten by a rabid dog shall be humanely destroyed immediately. (5) Every physician or other medical practitioner who treats a person or persons for bites inflicted by dogs shall report such treatment to the ACO, giving the names and addresses of such persons. (6) Any veterinarian who diagnoses rabies in any dog shall report such fact to the ACO. The veterinarian shall determine, before any rabies inoculation is given, whether the subject dog is under quarantine or has inflicted a bite on any person within the last ten days. (7) If a dog is determined to be a "stray dog," the ACO, after making reasonable inquiry to locate its owner, will have the dog impounded, quarantined and processed pursuant to the conditions set forth in this ordinance. The cost of such impoundment will be borne by the county until the ten day period has lapsed. After the ten day isolation period, the dog may be destroyed or disposed of by the Grant County Humane Society. 9.07.080 POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS DOG: No one shall keep, possess or harbor a potentially dangerous dog within the county. It shall be the duty of the ACO or his agents to impound such dog upon the complaint of three individuals residing in separate households and may do so in all other instances where the ACO or his agents determine, in their opinion, that the dog is potentially dangerous and if impoundment cannot be made with safety to the ACO or other citizens, the dog may be destroyed without notice to the owner, keeper or possessor. Dogs maintained as guard dogs or placed in an enclosed area, chained or under control with a leash, cord, reasonable in length, for protection of persons or property shall not be included under this section so long as they remain confined to a specific area under complete and absolute control of their owner or custodian. If a dog is impounded because it is potentially dangerous, a mandatory court appearance is necessary and the dog shall not be released to the owner or custodian until after the court appearance unless the owner agrees with the prosecuting attorney to have the dog placed outside the corporate limits of the county or agrees to have the dog euthanized. Having a potentially dangerous dog is declared to be a nuisance and may be abated as such as prescribed by law. 9.07.090 GUARD DOGS: It shall be unlawful to place or maintain guard dogs in any area for the protection of persons or property unless the following conditions are met: (1) The dogs shall be confined to an enclosed area adequate to insure that they will not escape; or (2) They shall be under the absolute control of a handler at all times; and (3) Warning signs shall be conspicuously posted indicating the presence of guard dogs, and such signs shall plainly show a telephone number where some person responsible for controlling such dogs can be reached at all times; and (4) Prior to the posting of guard dogs on any property, the person or persons responsible for the posting shall inform the supervising ACO in writing of their intention to post such dogs, the number of dogs to be posted, the location where such dog or dogs will be patrolling the area. 9.07.100 INTERFERENCE WITH ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER: It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with, molest, hinder or obstruct an ACO or any sheriff's office employee or official in the discharge of his official duties under this chapter. 9.07.110 FEES: Any dog impounded under the provisions of this chapter shall not be released until the owner of such dog shall have paid all fees and charges due. 9.07.120 RECORDS: (1) It shall be the duty of the ACO to keep, or cause to be kept, accurate and detailed records of the impoundment and disposition of all dogs coming into his custody and of all reports of dog bites reported to him. (2) It shall be the duty of the Grant County Sheriff or his designee to keep a record of the names of all persons to whom dangerous dog registrations are issued. 9.07.130 PENALTIES: Failure to comply with any provisions of this chapter shall subject the violator to the following penalties as set forth below: Violation Penalty 1. Failure to confine biting dog (9.07.070) (a) First offense $190 (b) Each subsequent offense $475 2. Refusal or failure to prgduce rabid dog (9.07.070) $950 3. Keeping potentially dangerous dog (9.07.080) (a) First offense $190 (b) Each subsequent offense ;475 4. Guard dog in violation of conditions (9.07.090) (a) First offense $190 (b) Each subsequent offense $475 5. Obstructing ACO or police officer enforcing Chapter 9.07 (9.07.100) $475 6. Failure to provide evidence of rabies vaccination (9.07.070) $28.50 7. Failure to pay annual dangerous dog registration fee (9.07.060) $400 9.07.140 SUBSEQUENT OFFENSES: If the potentially dangerous dog is involved in a second violation, the dog may also be considered a "dangerous dog" pursuant to Chapter 16.08 RCW in addition to the penalties contained herein. 9.07.150 CHAPTER SUPPLEMENTARY: The provisions of this chapter shall be supplementary to the provisions of Chapter 16.08 RCW relating to dangerous dogs. 9.07.160 SEVERABILITY: If any provision of this ordinance, or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the ordinance or the application of the provisions to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected. 9.07.170 EFFECTIVE DATE: This ordinance shall take effect September 23, , 1991. NOW THEREFORE, BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED THAT THE GRANT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS adopts this ordinance effective as noted herein. DONE THIS ���`� DAY OF , 1991. CHAIRMAN ATTEST: ' CLERK , CO IS IONER OMMISSIONER APPROVED AS TO FORM ONLY: PROSECUTING ATTORNEY