§ 3-2. Definitions.

When used in this chapter the following words and terms, unless the context indicates a different meaning, shall be interpreted as follows:

Animal dealer: Any person engaging in the business of buying and/or selling any animal or animals for the purpose of resale to pet shops, research facilities, another animal dealer, or to any other individual or individuals other than the sale of an occasional litter or animal on a random basis, but including, herein any person engaging in the sale of any animal from any roadside stand, booth, flea market or other temporary site. Persons buying or selling animals for, and destined for, human consumption, are not included in this definition.

Animal control officer: Person designated by the city as the primary enforcement officer of ordinances regulating animals and owners of animals and for the enforcement of sections of the Texas Statutes pertaining to the care and control of animals.

Animal control center: Facility designated and operated by the city for the purpose of impounding and caring for animals held under authority of this chapter.

Boarding kennel or cattery: Any establishment where dogs, cats, puppies, or kittens are kept for the primary purpose of boarding for any part of a twenty-four-hour period. This does not include veterinary clinics where boarding is offered in addition to clinical services.

Dangerous animal: Any warm blooded mammal which is known to carry or be susceptible to the rabies virus and which cannot be effectively vaccinated against that virus with any vaccine approved by the Texas Department of Health. A dangerous animal includes any hybrid animal or any pet wildlife which has attacked a human, killed or maimed a domestic animal or a permitted restricted animal as referred to in article X of this chapter, or which is apprehended or observed unrestrained. However, this definition shall not apply to dangerous dogs as addressed in article IX of this chapter.

Domestic animal: Any animal whose physiology has been determined or manipulated through selective breeding and does not occur naturally in the wild and any animal which can be vaccinated against rabies with an approved rabies vaccine, and any animal which has an established rabies quarantine observation period.

Estray: Means any stray horse, stallion, mare, gelding, filly, colt, mule, jenny, jack, jennet, hog, pig, sheep, goat, confined and domesticated hares and rabbits, or any species of cattle.

Exotic species: Any animal born or whose natural habitat is outside the continental United States excluding non-venomous reptiles and fish.

Exotic livestock/ratites: Any species classified as exotic livestock by the Texas Animal Health Commission.

Harboring: The act of keeping and caring for an animal or of providing a premise to which the animal returns for food, shelter, or care for a period of ten (10) days or longer.

Non-registered dangerous dog: Any dog which:

(1)

When unprovoked, severely attacked or inflicted serious injury or death to a person, whether on public or private property; or,

(2)

Has been deemed non-registerable by the animal control division and upheld or unchallenged in the court of jurisdiction.

Owner: Any person who has right of property in an animal including a harborer.

Pet animal: Shall include dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents, birds, non-poisonous reptiles, and other species of animals which are sold or retained as household pets but shall not include skunks, ferrets, non-human primates, and any other species of wild, exotic, or carnivorous animals that are susceptible to rabies, but not animals that may be vaccinated for rabies, and that may be further restricted in this chapter.

Pet shop: Any person engaged in the business of breeding, buying, selling at retail or as a broker of animals of any species for profit-making purposes.

Poultry: All domesticated foul and all game birds which are legally kept in captivity except those classified as exotic livestock/ratite as defined above.

Proper enclosure: Means a house or a building, or in the case of a fence or structure/pen, the fence or structure/pen must be at least six (6) feet in height. The structure/pen must also have minimum dimensions of five (5) feet by ten (10) feet. The fence or structure/pen must form an enclosure suitable to prevent entry of young children and must be locked and secured such that an animal cannot climb, dig, jump, or otherwise escape of its own volition. The enclosure shall be securely locked at all times. The structure/pen shall have secure sides to prevent the dangerous animal or registered dangerous dog from escaping from the enclosure. The structure/pen shall provide protection from the elements for the animal. The Animal Services Division may require a fence higher than six (6) feet or require a secure top and a secure bottom to the structure/pen if the need is demonstrated.

Quarantine by owner: Following are required:

(1)

Animal must be inside an enclosed structure, i.e., house or garage and must remain here for ten (10) days.

(2)

If maintained outside, animal must be behind a fence from which it cannot escape and on a chain from which it cannot break loose or inside a covered pen or kennel from which it cannot escape.

(3)

Animal must be kept away from other animals and people excepting those in the immediate household.

(4)

Animal may not be removed from Corporate City Limits of Decatur while under quarantine.

(5)

Owner shall notify animal control division immediately if animal becomes sick or displays any behavioral changes or dies or disappears.

(6)

Owner shall not subject the animal to any medical procedure without first notifying the animal control division, this to include any vaccination.

Rabies vaccination: The vaccination of a dog, cat or other domestic animal with an anti-rabies vaccine approved by the state department of health and administered by a veterinarian licensed by the state.

Registered dangerous dog: Any dog registered with the city in compliance with Chapter 822 Texas Health and Safety Code, Subchapter D, and with the section of this chapter addressing registered dangerous dogs.

Running at large: An animal shall be considered running at large:

(1)

Off premises: Any animal which is not restrained by means of a leash, chain, or other physical apparatus of sufficient strength and length to control the actions of such animal while off premises.

(2)

On premises:

a.

Any animal not confined to premises of owner by a substantial fence of sufficient strength and height to prevent the animal from escaping therefrom, or secured on the premises by a chain or leash sufficient in strength to prevent the animal from escaping from premises and so arranged that the animal will remain upon the premises when the leash is stretched to full length.

b.

An animal intruding upon the property of another person other than the owner's shall be termed "at large."

c.

Any animal within a vehicle in a manner that would not prevent that animal's escape or contact with other persons or animals.

Serious injury: Is defined as bodily injury caused by an animal which produces severe pain, trauma, loss of blood or tissue, and which requires medical treatment of wounds inflicted by the animal, and shall include bodily injury resulting from victim, whether human or animal, attempting to escape or prevent contact with injuring animal(s).

Severe attack: Is defined as one in which the animal repeatedly bites or vigorously shakes its victim, and the victim, or a person intervening, has extreme difficulty terminating the attack.

Stray animal: Any animal, for which there is no identifiable owner or harborer, which is found to be at large within the corporate limits of the city.

Theatrical exhibition: Any exhibition or act featuring "performing animals." Such exhibitions shall not include resident or non-resident dog and cat shows which are sponsored and/or sanctioned by Animal Services Division, American Kennel Club, the United States Kennel Club, the Cat Fanciers Association, American Cat Fanciers Association, or any affiliate thereof, nor shall it include any primary horse show.

Unprovoked: With respect to an attack by an animal shall mean that the animal was not hit, kicked, or struck by a person with an object or part of a person's body nor was any part of the animal's body pulled, pinched, or squeezed by a person.

Veterinarian: Any practitioner of veterinary medicine licensed by the state to practice such in Texas.

Wildlife: Any animal, which occurs naturally in a wild state. This includes any animal, which is part wildlife.

(Ord. No. 01-10-10, art. 2, 11-13-01)

Cross reference

Definitions and rules of construction generally, § 1-2.