BC 1983 08 01 - Laserfiche WebLink

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346 Sec. 5. Report and confinement of animals biting persons or showing symptoms of rabies. (a) Every dog or cat which has bitten any person or which shows symptoms of rabies shall be confined immediately and shall be promptly reported to the Animal Control Department, and thereupon shall be securely quarantined, at the direction of the Animal Control Department, for a period of ten (10) days, and shall not be released from such quarantine except by written permission from the Animal Control Department. (b) Dogs and cats quarantined under this section shall be confined in a veterinary hospital, boarding kennel, or county animal shelter, at the expense of the owner; provided, however, that if an animal control officer determines that the owner of an animal which must be quarantined has adequate confinement facilities upon his own premises, the animal control officer shall authorize the animal to be confined on such premises. The animal control officer may not authorize the animal to be confined on the owner's premises unless the owner has a fenced-in area in his yard and the fenced-in area has no entrances or exits that are not locked, and the animal is currently vaccinated against rabies. If the animal is confined on the owner's premises, the animal control officer shall revisit the premises for inspection purposes at approximately the middle of the confinement period and ~again at the conclusion of the confinement period. (c) In the case of stray dogs or cats Whose ownership is not known, the dogs or cats may be euthanized and the head examined for rabies or kept for the supervised quarantine period required by this section at the county animal shelter. (d) If rabies does not develop within ten (10) days after a dog or cat is quarantined under this section, the dog or cat may be released from quarantine with the written permission of the Animal Control Department. If the dog or cat has been confined in the county animal shelter, the owner shall pay a fee determined by resolution of the Board of County Commissioners for each day of confinement to defray the cost of feeding, upon reclaiming the animal. Fees shall be available for public inspection in the office of the Clerk to the Board of County Commissioners and Cabarrus County Animal Shelter. (e) In the case of any carnivore or bat the animal may be euthanized and the head examined for rabies. Sec. 6. Destruction or confinement of animal bitten by rabid animal. (a) If an animal has a current rabies inoculation and is bitten by a known rabid animal, the animal bitten shall be revaccinated and returned to the owner. (b) If an animal does not have a current rabies inoculation and is bitten by a known rabid animal, the owner of the bitten animal must strictly isolate the bitten animal in an animal shelter, boarding kennel, or at a veterinary hospital for a period of six (6) months or the animal will be immediately destroyed. Sec. 7. Area-wide emergency quarantine. (a) When reports indicate a positive diagnosis of rabies, the County Director of Public Health may order an area-wide quarantine for such period as he deems necessary. Upon invoking of such emergency quarantine, no dog, cat or other carnivore shall be taken into the streets or permitted to be in the streets during such period. During such quarantine, no dog, cat or other carnivore may be taken or shipped from the county.without written permission of the Animal Control Department and the police and sheriff's departments are hereby directed during such emergency, to impound any dog, cat or other carnivore found running at large in the county. During the quarantine period, the Animal Control Department or the local health authorities shall be empowered to provide for a program of mass immunization by the establishment of temporary emergency rabies vaccination facilities strategically located throughout the county.