
County of Berrien, Michigan
AN
ORDINANCE RELATING TO AND PROVIDING FOR ANIMAL CONTROL WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF
BERRIEN COUNTY; PURPOSE OF ORDINANCE: DEFINITIONS: COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER,
HIS DUTIES, AUTHORITY, RESPONSIBILITIES AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE; LICENSING AND
VACCINATION OF DOGS; CONFINEMENT OF DOGS (AND OTHER ANIMALS) UNDER CERTAIN
CIRCUMSTANCES, COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER AND IMPOUNDMENT OF DOGS (AND OTHER
ANIMALS) AND REDEMPTION OF DOGS (AND OTHER ANIMALS) IMPOUNDED; KILLING AND
SEIZING OF DOGS (AND OTHER ANIMALS); USE OF FIREARMS UNDER CERTAIN
CIRCUMSTANCES, PROHIBITION OF WILD ANIMALS, ENUMERATION OF CERTAIN VIOLATIONS
AND PROCEDURE THEREFORE; PENALTIES; PRESERVATION OF CERTAIN RIGHTS; COUNTY
TREASURER’S DUTIES AND RECORDS; FEES AND EXPENSES; RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS
OF FUNDS; CONSTRUCTION; REPEAL.
ARTICLE 1
PURPOSE
Deeming it
advisable in the interest of protecting the public health, safety, convenience
and welfare and to provide for the orderly and uniform administration of the
dog licensing provisions of the State of Michigan and in particular Act 339 of
the Public Acts of 1919, as amended, being Sections 287.261 – 287.293 of the
Compiled Laws of 1948, (MSA Sections 12.511 – 12.543), and to create the
position of Animal Control Officer and define his duties, authority and
responsibilities, and to regulate and control the conduct, keeping and care of
dogs and certain other animals, livestock and poultry: the County of Berrien,
Michigan does hereby adopt the following Ordinance:
ARTICLE II
DEFINITIONS
For the purpose
of this Ordinance, the following terms shall have the following meanings
respectively designated for each:
(a)
“ANIMALS” Unless
otherwise stated, the word “Animal” as used in this Ordinance shall include
birds, fish, mammals and reptiles.
(b)
“LIVESTOCK” means horses,
stallions, colts, geldings, mares, sheep, rams, lambs, bulls, bullocks, steers,
heifers, cows, calves, mules, jacks, jennets, burros, goats, kids, hogs, swine,
and fur being animals being raised in captivity.
(c)
“POULTRY” means all
domestic fowl, ornamental birds, and game birds possessed or being reared under
authority of a breeder’s license pursuant to Act 191 of the Public Acts of
1929, as amended, being Section 317.71 to 317.85 of the Compiled Laws of 1948
(MSA Sections 13.1271 – 13.1285).
(d)
“LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER” means any
person employed or elected by the people of the State of Michigan, or by any
city, village, county or township whose duty it is to preserve peace or to make
arrest or to enforce the law, and includes game, fish and forest fire wardens
and members of the State Police and Conservation Officers.
(e)
“ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER” means any
person employed by the county for the purpose of enforcing this Ordinance or
state statutes pertaining to dogs or other animals as well as persons employed
by the county to act in the Animal Control Division.
(f)
“OWNER” The term owner and “persons owning
premises” shall mean both the owner of title of record and those occupying or
in possession of any property or premise.
The term “owner”, when applied to the proprietorship of any animal, must
be the age of 18 years and capable of taking care of said animal. An owner is a
person having a right of property in the animal, an authorized agent of the
owner, and every person who keeps or harbors the animal or has it in his care,
custody or control, and every person who permits the animal to remain on or
about the premise occupied by him.
(g)
“PERSON” The word
“person” shall include state and local officers or employees, individuals,
corporations, co-partnerships and associations.
(h)
“KENNEL” means any
establishment wherein or whereon three (3) or more dogs are confined and kept
for sale, boarding, breeding or training purposes, for remuneration,
constructed so as to prevent the public or stray dogs from obtaining entrance
thereto and gaining contact with dogs lodged herein.
(i)
“RABIES-SUSPECT ANIMAL” the term “rabies-suspect
animal” shall mean any animal which has been determined by the Michigan
Department of Public Health to be a potential rabies carrier and which has
bitten a human, or any animal which has been in contact with or been bitten by
another animal which is a potential rabies carrier, or any animal which is
potential rabies carrier which shows symptoms suggestive of rabies.
(j)
“POUNDMASTER” CHIEF, ANIMAL
CONTROL SERVICES: DOG WARDEN: DOG CATCHER. The terms “Poundmaster”, “Chief”,
“Animal Control Services”, “Dog Warden” or “Dog Catcher” are synonymous with
“Animal Control Officer”, “Director, Animal Control Department” and shall
include the deputies of such person.
(k)
“DAY” shall mean working days.
(l)
“BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS” shall mean
the Berrien County Board of Commissioners. “TREASURER”
shall mean the Berrien County Treasurer.
(m) “NON-AGRICULTURAL
AREA” shall mean any area zoned by a
city, village, township or other governmental body, agency or commission as
other than for agricultural purposes.
(n)
“WILD ANIMAL” means any
living member of the animal kingdom, including those born or raised in
captivity, except the following: human beings, domestic dogs (excluding hybrids
with wolves, coyotes, or jackals), domestic cats (excluding hybrids with
ocelots or margays), rodents, any hybrid animal that is part wild, and
captive-bred species or common cage birds.
ARTICLE
III
ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER
DUTIES, AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES
SECTION
1
An Animal Control Officer shall be appointed by the Board of
Commissioners and shall serve as Director of the Animal Control
Department. Said person shall be
supervised by the County Coordinator and parent Committee (Administration).
SECTION
2
In lieu of all fees and other remuneration under the statutes of
the state, the Animal Control Officer, and his assistants, except census
takers, shall be compensated as established and determined by appropriate
resolution of the Board of Commissioners.
SECTION
3
The Animal Control Officer shall fulfill the following duties:
(a)
The Animal Control Officer shall
promptly seize, take up and place in the animal shelter all dogs found running
at large or being kept or harbored any place within the county contrary to the
provisions of this Ordinance or the statutes of the state.
(b)
The Animal Control Officer shall
be a peace officer for the purposes of this Ordinance and shall be legally
authorized and it shall be his duty to issue appearance tickets, citations or
summonses to those persons owing, keeping or harboring animals contrary to the
provisions of this Ordinance.
(c)
It shall be the duty of the Animal
Control Officer to destroy in a humane manner, all impounded dogs (or other
animals) lacking a collar, license or other evidence of ownership after being
impounded for five (5) working days, or if the animal has a collar, license or
evidence of ownership, seven (7) working days from the date of mailing to the
animal’s owner written notice that the animal has been impounded. If, however, said dog or other animal is
valuable or otherwise desirable for keeping, the Animal Control Officer may
release said dog, or other animal, to any person who will undertake to remove
said animal from the county or keep said animal within the county in accordance
with the provision of this Ordinance and the statutes of the state, including
compliance with licensing and vaccination requirements, upon payment of the
proper charge for the care and treatment of said animal while kept in the
animal shelter or dispose of said dog (or other animal) at the expiration of the
holding period required herein in a manner approved by the Board of
Commissioners. Such regulations
regarding the redemption of animals from the animal shelter and boarding and
other charges shall be posted in a conspicuous place at the animal
shelter. The bodies of all animals
destroyed at the animal shelter or elsewhere in the county shall be disposed of
by the Animal Control Officer in a manner approved by the Berrien County Board
of Commissioners. Upon receipt of a written authorization signed by the owner,
any animal voluntarily turned in to the animal shelter by the owner thereof for
disposition need not be kept for the minimum period set forth herein before
release or disposal of such animal is made by the Animal Control Officer, as
provided herein.
(d)
The Animal Control Officer shall
promptly investigate all dog (animal) bite cases by a rabies-suspect animal
involving human exposure and shall search out and attempt to discover the
animal involved and shall either impound or require its owner to quarantine the
animal for examination for disease in accordance with applicable provisions of
this Ordinance and/or the statutes of the state. In the event the owner of a quarantined
animal is unable to maintain the quarantine during the required period, the owner
shall deliver said animal to the animal shelter, or upon notice to the Animal
Control Officer, to a veterinary clinic for impoundment. Failure of an owner to maintain a quarantine
or to deliver a quarantined animal for impoundment shall constitute a misdemeanor
punishable as set forth in Article XI of this Ordinance. The Animal Control Officer shall also be
obliged to seize and impound any rabies-suspect dog (animal).
(e)
The Animal Control Officer shall assume
the duty (provided in Section 316 of Act 339 of the Public Acts of 1919, being
Section 287.276 of the Compiled Laws of 1948, (MSA Section 12.526), as amended
to determine and locate all unlicensed dogs, to list such dogs and to deliver
said list to the Prosecuting Attorney for the necessary proceedings as provided
by this Ordinance and/or the statutes of the state.
(f)
The Animal Control Officer is
hereby authorized and empowered in accordance with the provisions of this
Ordinance to enter upon private premises for the purpose of inspecting same for
the purpose of determining the harboring, keeping or possessing of any dog or
dogs for the specific purpose of determining if the owners of said dogs have
complied with the appropriate provisions of this Ordinance and to apprehend and
take with him any dogs for whom no license has been procured in accordance with
this Ordinance or for any other violation hereof. The provisions of this subsection shall
specifically include, but not be limited to, investigation of or seizure for
cruelty to animals.
(g)
The Animal Control Officer shall
have the right and obligation to inspect any kennel, a license for which has
been issued by the Treasurer pursuant to this Ordinance and the statues of the
state, and shall have the duty to suspend said license if, in their opinion,
conditions exist which are unhealthy or inhumane to the animals kept therein
pending correction of such conditions, and further shall have the duty to
revoke said license if such conditions are not corrected within a reasonable
period of time, generally being within seven (7) days.
(h)
The Animal Control Officer shall
have the right and obligation to investigate complaints of dogs alleged to be
dangerous to persons or property and shall have the right to seize, take up and
impound such animals.