§ 91.001. DEFINITIONS.

For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.

ABANDONED ANIMAL. An animal that has been abandoned while in a person's custody without making reasonable arrangements for assumption of custody by another person. This definition shall include all animals abandoned on city property (whether owned or stray) or at the shelter when shelter staff is not present to assume custody of the animal and to animals who are not reclaimed by their owner within 5 days of being notified of the animal's impoundment.

ANIMAL. Any mammal, reptile or bird, domestic or wild.

ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER. Person designated and duly sworn by the city as an enforcement officer who is qualified to perform such duties under the laws of the city and or the state and who holds a Basic Animal Control Officer certification.

ANIMAL SERVICES MANAGER. Person designated by the City Manager to be the supervisor of all animal control activities.

ANIMAL SHELTER. Any facility operated by the city or its authorized agents for the purpose of impounding, quarantining or caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter.

ANIMAL LICENSING. The assignment by the Kirby Animal Shelter of a number to each animal for which the appropriate fee has been paid and which has been vaccinated with anti-rabies vaccine if required.

AT LARGE. Any dog not under restraint of a person who is capable of control of the animal on or off the premises of the owner.

AUCTIONS. Place or facility where animals are regularly bought, sold, or traded except for those facilities otherwise deemed in this Code. This term does not apply to individual sales of animals by private owners.

BITE. Puncturing or tearing of the skin by an animal's teeth that could result in the exchange of blood and saliva.

CAT. Any Felis Catus.

CAT COLONY. A colony of free-roaming (homeless, stray, wild or untamed) cats that has been registered with the department and is maintained by a colony caretaker (who provides food, water, and shelter) using trap, neuter, and return methodology.

CIRCUS. Commercial variety show featuring animal acts for public entertainment.

CITY. The City of Kirby.

CITY VETERINARIAN. Person or persons appointed by the City Council and who are licensed to practice veterinary medicine in the State of Texas.

COMMERCIAL ANIMAL ESTABLISHMENT. Pet shop, grooming shop, guard dog, or obedience training center, animal auction, riding school or stable, zoological park, circus, performing animal exhibition, or boarding or breeding kennel.

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY. A tract of land and or building zoned for or utilized for commercial or business uses in the city limits including temporary commercial sites.

CONFINED. A situation by which an animal is effectively prevented from being free to roam or run at large.

CUSTODIAN. A person or agency that feeds, shelters, harbors or has possession or control or responsibility to control an animal.

DANGEROUS ANIMAL. Any animal that attacks, bites or injures human beings or domesticated animals without provocation or which because of temperament, conditioning or training has a known propensity to attack, bite, or injure human beings or domesticated animals or an individual animal which the local health authority has reason to believe has a dangerous disposition likely to be harmful to humans or other animals.

DOG. Any Canis Familiaris, including hybrids.

DOMESTIC ANIMAL. Any animal normally adapted to live in intimate association with humans or for the advantage of humans, and commonly kept as pets, including but not limited to, domestic cats and dogs, domestic ferrets, rabbits, and domestic fowl and small animals.

DOMESTICATED CAT. A cat that is socialized to humans and is appropriate as a companion to humans.

EAR TIPPING. A straight line cut of the tip of the left ear of a cat while the cat is anesthetized to identify the cat as altered.

EUTHANASIA. The act of inducing the painless death of an animal for reasons assumed to be merciful. An easy or painless death.

EXOTIC ANIMALS. Animals that are not livestock or typical domestic animals including but not limited to the following; pythons, boa constrictor, non-poisonous spiders, scorpions, or lizards.

FERAL. Any domestic animal that has escaped domestication and reverted back to a wild state.

FERAL CAT. A cat that exists in a wild or untamed state, either due to birth or reversion to a wild state from domestication. The usually and consistent temperament of a feral cat is extreme fear and resistance to contact with humans. Feral cats are completely or substantially unsocialized to humans.

FERAL CAT CAREGIVER. A volunteer, uncompensated person who agrees to facilitate the trap, neuter and return program in accordance with this chapter and any rules and regulations established by the Animal Services Manager.

FERAL CAT COLONY. A group of cats that congregates, more or less, together as a unit. Although not every cat in a colony may be feral, any non-feral cats that congregate with a colony shall be deemed a part of it.

FOWL. A bird of any kind, domestic or wild, cock or hen, Gallus Gaflus.

FOSTER. To provide care or nurture animals until a suitable home can be found in accordance with guidelines set by Kirby Animal Services.

GROOMING SHOP. Commercial establishment where animals are bathed, clipped, plucked or otherwise groomed.

GUARD DOG. Any professionally trained dog that will detect and warn its handler that an intruder is present in or near an area that is being secured. Any dog that is utilized to protect commercial property.

GUARD DOG PERMITS. Issued for each commercial establishment where guard dogs are to be used or where guard dogs are kept or boarded.

GUARD DOG TRAINING CENTER. Commercial property where guard dogs are to be used or where guard dogs are to be kept, boarded, bred, sold, let to hire or trained for a fee for guard dog purposes.

HANDLER. Any person who is responsible for and capable of controlling the actions of a guard dog or training or transporting a guard dog.

HIGH RISK ANIMAL. Animals which have a high probability of transmitting rabies, including skunks, bats, raccoons, coyotes, and species of foxes indigenous to North America.

HOUSING FACILITY. Any room, building, or area used to contain a primary enclosure or enclosures.

HUMANELY KILLED. To cause the death of an animal by a method which rapidly produces unconsciousness and death without visible evidence of pain or distress or utilizes anesthesia produced by an agent which causes painless loss of consciousness and death following such loss of consciousness.

HYBRID. Any offspring of 2 animals of different species.

KENNEL OR CATTERY. Any premises wherein any person engages in the business of boarding, breeding, buying, letting for hire, training for a fee or selling dogs and cats and or a facility for keeping more than 3 animals of the same species.

IMPOUNDMENT. The collecting or confining of an animal due to city ordinance violation.

ISOLATION. The separation of animals exposed or potentially exposed to rabies or other diseases.

LICENSED VETERINARIAN. A veterinarian licensed to practice veterinary medicine by the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.

LIVESTOCK. An animal raised for human consumption, e.g., goats, cows, pigs, poultry, sheep, or an equine animal.

LOCAL HEALTH AUTHORITY. The officer designated by the City Council under Tex. Health and Safety Code, Chapter 826 as amended from time to time.

LRCA. Local Rabies Control Authority.

MICROCHIP. A tiny transponder possessing a unique identification number that can be injected or inserted just under the skin of a pet to assist in identification if the pet is lost or stolen.

OWNER. Person who feeds harbors an animal(s) for more than 72 hours without the presence of that animal being recorded in the records of the Shelter as a stray animal. Persons caring for an animal at the request of an owner are not included in the definition of owner, but are required to keep the animal in compliance with this Code. An owner does not include a feral cat caregiver participating in an authorized trap, neuter and return program.

PERFORMING ANIMAL EXHIBITIONS. Spectacle, display, act, or event other than circuses and rodeos in which animals are used and shall include animal amusement vendors such as, but not limited to, pony rides, petting zoos, commercial horseback pictures, and the like.

PET OR COMPANION ANIMAL. A domestic or tamed animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.

PET SHOP. Business establishment, sole proprietor, partnership or corporation, whether licensed or not by the city, where 2 or more species of animals, including dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles, or rodents are kept for sale or commercial barter.

POSITIVE CONTROL. Confined to a quarantine facility where the animal cannot make physical contact with other animals or humans other than a licensed veterinarian, Animal Control Officer, or Shelter Operator.

POSSIBLE EXPOSURE TO RABIES. A bite received from any warm blooded animal, animal to human or animal to animal, is reason to suspect exposure to rabies.

POULTRY. Any species of domesticated birds commonly kept for eggs and or meat.

PROVOCATION. Any purposeful act that causes an animal to bite scratch or attack in protection of itself or its owner or its owner's premises. Entrance in any manner into an area where an animal is properly under restraint in compliance with city ordinances would be considered provocation irrespective of the reason for such entrance.

PUBLIC NUISANCE. Any animal or animals that unreasonably annoy humans, endanger the life or health of other animals or persons, or substantially interfere with the rights of citizens other than their owners to enjoyment of life or property. The term PUBLIC NUISANCE ANIMAL shall mean and include, but is not limited to any animal that:

(1)

Is repeatedly at large or stray;

(2)

Damages the property or anyone other than its owner's;

(3)

Molests or intimidates pedestrians or passersby;

(4)

Trespasses on school grounds;

(5)

Chases vehicles;

(6)

Excessively makes disturbing noises including but not limited to continued repeated howling, barking, whining or other utterances causing unreasonable annoyance disturbance or discomfort to neighbors or others in close proximity to the premises where the animal is kept or harbored;

(7)

Causes fouling of the air by odor and thereby creates unreasonable annoyance or discomfort to neighbors or others in close proximity to the premises where the animal is kept or harbored;

(8)

Causes unsanitary conditions in enclosures or surroundings where the animal is kept or harbored;

(9)

Is offensive or dangerous to the public health, safety or welfare by virtue of the number and or type of animals maintained; or

(10)

Attacks other domestic animals or humans.

QUARANTINE. Strict confinement for the purpose of preventing the spread of disease under restraint by closed cage or padlock or in any other manner approved by the local health authority on the private premises of the animal(s) owner or at a facility approved by the Texas Department of Health.

QUARANTINE PERIOD. That portion of the observation period during which an animal is physically confined for observation as provided for under the quarantine method and testing section of this chapter.

RABIES. An acute viral disease of man and animal affecting the central nervous system and usually transmitted by an animal bite.

RABIES VACCINATION. A protective inoculation given under the direction of a licensed veterinarian with a rabies vaccine recognized and approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Bureau of Animal Industry given in an amount sufficient to provide immunity and satisfies the requirement of state law.

RESTRAINT. A chain, rope, tether, leash, cable or other device that attaches an animal to a stationary object or trolley system or a substantial fence or pen.

RIDING SCHOOL OR STABLE. A place that has available for hire, boarding and/or riding instruction any horse, pony, donkey, mule, or burro or any place that regularly buys, sells or trains the above animals, including a racetrack, trotting track, or rodeo.

RUN AT LARGE. A dog found to be free of restraint while outside the boundaries of the real property of the owner.

SCRATCH. A scrape left by the claws or nails of an animal that is of sufficient severity to break the skin and draw blood.

SERVICE ANIMAL. An animal having special training to assist/aid a person with disabilities.

SICK ANIMAL. Any animal that appears to be suffering from an infectious, contagious or communicable disease or that is showing evidence of a physical disorder or traumatic injury or that has an elevated temperature.

SMALL ANIMAL. Rabbits, guinea pigs, domestic mice, rats, hamsters, hedgehogs, gerbils, and the like.

STATE. The State of Texas.

STRAY ANIMAL. Any domestic animal running free or at large with no physical restraint.

STERILIZATION. The surgical removal of the reproductive organs of an animal to render the animal unable to reproduce.

TRAP, NEUTER AND RETURN PROGRAM. A nonlethal, humane alternative to deal with the stray cats which are captured, altered and returned back to their location in order to encourage the stabilization of the free-roaming cat population in the city.

TRAPPED ANIMAL. Any animal caught or taken in, as if in a trap or snare, by skill, craft, or trickery.

UN-OWNED ANIMAL. Animal for which an owner has not been identified.

UNRESTRAINED. Not restrained by leash, lead or physical restraint or by a substantial fence or pen.

UTILITY. Kept for the production of a useful product or for its skill rather than for show or as a pet.

VACCINATION CERTIFICATE. A document showing on its face that the animal described thereon has received a current inoculation in an amount sufficient to produce an immunity that satisfies the requirement of State law. It must show the date of the inoculation, duration of immunity approved for that vaccine, the name and address of the animal's owner, all other information required by state law and signed by a licensed veterinarian.

VETERINARIAN. Person licensed to practice veterinary medicine in the state.

VETERINARY HOSPITAL. Establishment maintained and operated by a licensed veterinarian(s) for surgery, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and injuries of animals.

WILD ANIMALS. Any non-domestic, tamed animal, including, but not limited to, wolves, coyotes, panthers, lions, bobcats, cougars, black footed ferrets, skunks, armadillos, poisonous reptiles, raccoons, monkeys, non-human primates, and any other animal typically found in a zoo except the for the following:

(1)

Domestic dogs.

(2)

Domestic cats.

(3)

Livestock.

(4)

Poultry.

WILDLIFE. Any animal that typically occurs naturally in the wild state.

WILD STATE. Living in its original natural condition, not domesticated, regardless of state or duration of captivity.

ZOO OR ZOOLOGICAL PARK. Facility other than pet shops or kennels displaying or exhibiting 1 or more species of non-domesticated animals.

(Ord. 2013-731, passed 2-14-13)