§ 10-2. Impounding facilities; animal control officers; nuisance animals; prohibited acts pertaining to dogs.

(a)

Impounding facilities. The town may construct and operate impounding or holding facilities or contract with an organization with such facilities to provide adequate animal impounding for the town.

(b)

Animal control officers. The town may either employ or contract with persons as animal control officers to enforce the regulations of this chapter and any applicable state laws. The animal control officer, or any law enforcement officer of the town, shall have full and complete authority to pick up, catch or procure any animal at large, creating a nuisance, or infected with rabies or believed to be infected with rabies, or infected or believed to be infected with any other contagious or infectious disease, or a dog or cat not wearing a collar or harness with a license tag attached, in any area of the town, and cause such animal to be impounded.

(c)

Nuisance animals. It shall be a violation of this chapter for any owner to maintain or permit any public nuisance animal situation to continue after having been notified of the nuisance by the animal control officer, code enforcement officer, a law enforcement officer or the county health department. In addition, the animal control officer may cite any person owning a public nuisance animal and order such person to do all things necessary to abate the nuisance. If, after being given a reasonable opportunity to abate the situation causing the public nuisance, the owner fails to cause the abatement of the nuisance, the animal control officer, law enforcement officer or health department official may refer the matter to a town code enforcement inspector for code enforcement board proceedings. Thereafter the code enforcement board shall have authority to hear and determine the matter and to issue such orders, fines or other remedies as provided for under chapter 2, article V.

(d)

Prohibited acts pertaining to dogs. In addition to the prohibitions in subsection (c) of this section, it shall be unlawful and a violation of this chapter for any owner to permit a dog to be unleashed on the Atlantic Ocean Beach within the town or to fail to remove and dispose of in a sanitary fashion forthwith any excrement of such animal deposited off the owner's property.

State law reference

Power of municipality, F.S. § 166.021.

Cross reference

Officers and employees, § 2-31 et seq.