For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and phrases shall mean:

(a)   Abandon – includes, but is not limited to, any instance where an owner leaves an animal without demonstrated or apparent intent to recover or resume custody; the leaving of an animal by its owner, or other person responsible for its care or custody, without making effective provisions for its adequate care; turns out or releases an animal; dumps an animal from a vehicle; or is aware that an animal is awaiting redemption at a location designated by animal control and fails to make an attempt to redeem it.

(b)   Adequate care - means normal care and prudent attention to the needs and welfare of an animal, including that care normally needed to maintain good health of the animal, including clean and dry bedding and resting surfaces, grooming, removal of manure, and:

(1)   Adequate food - means wholesome foodstuffs suitable for the animal provided at suitable intervals in a sanitary manner in quantities enough to maintain good health of the animal considering its age and condition; and

(2)   Adequate health care - means the provision to an animal of all immunizations and preventive care required to maintain good health; space adequate to allow the animal to rest and exercise enough to maintain good health; and the provision to each sick, diseased or injured animal of necessary veterinary care or humane death; and

(3)   Adequate shelter - means a structurally sound, properly ventilated, sanitary and weatherproof shelter suitable for the animal, considering the condition and age of the animal which provides access to shade from direct sunlight and regress from exposure to inclement weather conditions; and

(4)   Adequate water - means a continual access to or access at suitable intervals to a supply of clean, fresh, potable water provided in a sanitary manner suitable for the condition of the animal.

(c)   Animal - means all vertebrate and invertebrate animals such as but not limited to bovine cattle, horses and other equines, hogs, goats, dogs, cats, rabbits, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigeons, and other fowl or wild animals, reptiles, fish, bees or birds that have been tamed, domesticated or captivated.

(c)   Animal Control or Animal Control Officer - Any person employed by the city for the purpose of aiding in the enforcement of the chapter or any other law or ordinance relating to the licensing or permitting animals, control of animals or seizure and impoundment of animals, and includes any city law enforcement officer whose duties in whole or in part include assignments which involve the control, seizure or taking into the custody of any animal.

(d)   Animal Shelter - means the facility or facilities operated by the city or its authorized agents for impounding or caring for animals under the authority of this chapter or state law.

(e)   At-large - means to be outside of a fence or other enclosure which restrains the animals to a specific premise or not under the control, by leash or lead, of the owner or other authorized person capable of restraining the animal. Animals tethered to a stationary object within range of public thoroughfares are deemed to be at-large.

(e)   Attack - means violent or aggressive physical contact with a person or domestic animal, or violent or aggressive behavior that confines the movement of a person, including, but not limited to, charging, cornering, chasing, or circling a person.

(f)   Bite - means any actual or suspected abrasion, scratch, puncture, tear, bruise, or piercing of the skin, caused by any animal, that is, or suspected of, being contaminated or inoculated with the saliva from the animal, directly or indirectly, regardless of the health of the animal causing such bite.

(g)   Cat - means any member of the species felis catus, regardless of sex.

(h)   Dangerous or Vicious Animal - means any animal deemed to be dangerous or vicious per section 4-108 or Article 2.

(i)    Dog - means any member of the species canis familiaris, regardless of sex.

(j)    Fowl - means all animals that are included in the zoological class aves, which shall include, but not limited to, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, guineas and pigeons.

(l)    Humane Live Animal Trap - means any cage trap that upon activation encloses an animal without placing any physical restraint upon any part of the body of such animal.

(m)  Humanely Euthanize - means the proper injection of a substance that quickly and painlessly terminates the life of an animal, or any other method approved by the American Veterinary Medical Association or the American Humane Society.

(n)   Immediate Control - means the regulation and supervision by a competent person so that an animal is unable to run or get loose at will.

(o)   Livestock - includes, but is not limited to cattle, horses, goats, sheep or other animals commonly regarded or used as farm or ranch animals.

(p)   Microchip - means a passive transponder which can be implanted in an animal and which is a component of a radio frequency identification (RFID) system.

(q)   Neutered - means any male or female cat or dog that has been permanently rendered sterile.

(r)    Owner, To Own, Keeper or Harborer - means: any person who possesses, harbors, keeps, feeds, shelters, maintains, offers refuge or asylum to any animal, or who professes to keeping, owning, or his or her employee, agent, or other competent person into whose charge an animal has been placed by the actual owner, or harboring of such animal within his or her home, yard, enclosure, store, or place of business or any other premises in which he or she resides or controls. In addition, any person who signs a receipt as owner, keeper or harborer for the return of an animal from any shelter or animal holding facility, shall be presumed to be the owner, keeper or harborer of the animal. A parent or legal guardian shall be deemed to be an owner, keeper or harborer of animals owned, kept or harbored upon their premises by minor children who are less than 18 years of age. Such term shall also include any person who exercises control over or is in possession of any such animal.

(s)   Vaccination - means an injection of a vaccine, approved by the State Board of Public Health and administered by a licensed veterinarian for immunizing an animal against rabies.

(t)    Veterinarian - means a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine licensed by the State of Kansas.

(Code 2019)

(a)   There is hereby created the position of animal control officer for the city and such officer shall be charged with the enforcement of this chapter. Any person employed by the city as an animal control officer and commissioned by the chief of police of the city shall have such powers and authority as allowed by law in the enforcement of this chapter. All animal control officers shall be subject to the supervision and direction of the chief of police of the city.

(b)   Except as provided in subsection (c) it shall be the duty of the animal control officer to take up and impound all animals found in the city in violation of the provisions of this chapter.

(c)   As an alternative to the provisions of subsection (b) of this section, any law enforcement officer or the animal control officer may issue a citation to the owner, harborer or keeper of an animal in violation of this chapter, and the person receiving the citation shall, within 30 days, appear in the municipal court of the city to answer the charged violation of this chapter.

(Code 2019)

When deemed necessary by law enforcement officers or the animal control officer for the health, safety and welfare of the members of the public, such officers and/or their agents may:

(a)   Place a humane trap on public or a requesting resident’s property for capturing any animal defined in this chapter as creating a nuisance in the city;

(b)   Use any tranquilizer guns, humane traps, or other suitable devices to subdue and capture any animal that is deemed by the animal control officer, in his or her discretion, to be of a danger to itself or to the public health and safety.

(c)   Use firearms or other suitable weapons to destroy any rabid animal, any vicious animal as defined in Article 2, or any animal creating a nuisance as defined in section 4-108, where such animal is impossible or impractical to catch, capture or tranquilize.

(Code 2019)

A Law Enforcement Officer or an Animal Control Officer shall have the right of entry upon any private, unenclosed lots or lands for collecting any animal whose presence thereupon is a violation of this chapter. It shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with such officer in the exercise of this right.

(Code 2019)

It shall be unlawful for any person to:

(a)   Willfully or maliciously kill, maim, disfigure, torture, beat with a stick, chain, club or other object; mutilate, burn or scald with any substance; or otherwise cruelly set upon any animals, except that reasonable force may be employed to drive vicious animals away.

(b)   Drive or work any animal cruelly or cruelly work any maimed, mutilated, infirm, sick or disabled animal, or cause, allow or permit the same to be done.

(c)   Have, keep or harbor any animal which is infected with any dangerous, incurable and/or painfully crippling condition, except as provided in section 4-106. The Municipal Court may order a person convicted of violation under this subsection to turn the animal involved over to a designated humane society. All such animals taken by the designated agency may be destroyed humanely as soon thereafter as is possible. This section shall not be construed to include veterinary hospitals or animals under active veterinary care.

(d)   Sell or offer for sale, barter, give away, or use as an advertising device or promotional display, living baby chicks, rabbits, ducklings or other fowl, except pigeons, under two (2) months of age in any quantity less than twelve (12); or to sell, offer for sale, barter, give away, or display animals or fowl as specified in this section which have been dyed, colored or otherwise treated so as to impart to them an artificial or unnatural color; provided, however, that this section shall not be construed to prohibit the sale of animals or fowls as specified in this subsection, in proper facilities by hatchery or persons engaged in raising and selling such animals and fowls for recognized animal husbandry purposes.

(e)   Promote, stage, hold, manage, or in any way conduct any game, exhibition, contest or fight in which one (1) or more animals are engaged for injuring, killing, maiming, or destroying themselves or any other animals.

(f)   Abandon, or otherwise neglect or refuse to supply such animals with necessary and adequate care, food, drink, air, light, space, shelter and protection from the elements as necessary for health and well-being of such kind of animal.

(g)   Abandon or leave any animal in any place without making provisions for its proper care;

(h)   For any person to use, place, set out, or deploy any animal trap aboveground, which makes use of a spring gun, spring jaws, clamping devices, cutting or stabbing mechanism or any other devices that will damage or severely injure any animal when caught or trapped by the device or trap; except that nothing herein contained shall prohibit the use of animal traps that are so designed to trap and hold animals without injuring the animals.

(Code 2019)

The provisions of section 4-105 shall not apply to:

(a)   Normal or accepted veterinary or veterinary hospital practices or treatment of animals under active veterinary care;

(b)   Bona fide experiments carried on by commonly recognized research facilities;

(c)   Killing, attempting to kill, trapping, catching or taking of any animal in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 32 or Chapter 47 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated;

(d)   Rodeo practices accepted by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys’ Association;

(e)   The humane killing of an animal which is diseased or disabled beyond recovery for any useful purpose, or the humane killing of animals for population control, by the owner thereof or by an authorized agent such as a licensed veterinarian, at the request of the owner;

(f)   The humane killing of an animal by the animal control officer, a public health officer or a law enforcement officer in the performance of his or her official duty;

(g)   The humane killing of an unclaimed animal after three full business days following the receipt of such animal at a municipal pound or an incorporated humane society shelter by the owner, operator or authorized agents of such establishments.

(Code 2019)

It shall be unlawful for the owner, lessee, occupant or person in charge of any premises in the city to possess and maintain any animal or fowl within the city or permit to be maintained thereon any stable, shed, pen or other place where horses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats or swine, or undomesticated animals are kept. This provision shall not apply to:

(a)   The maintaining of a stockyard or sales barn for the loading, unloading, temporary detention and sale of such livestock, if the location of such stockyard or sales barn does not otherwise violate the zoning ordinances of the city;

(b)   The maintaining, for USD 270 educational purposes only, of any fowl or coup where fowl are kept, without first receiving approval by the city council;

(c)   The maintaining of dogs and cats which are regulated by Article 3 of this chapter;

(d)   The maintaining of non-poisonous and non-vicious animals and fowl which are commonly kept as household pets, hamsters, rabbits, parakeets, and comparable animals, when kept as household pets and in a safe and sanitary manner in accordance with section 4-108:4-113 and Article 2 of this chapter;

(e)   The transporting of animals through the city by ordinary and customary means;

(f)   The maintaining of urban chickens which are regulated by Article 8 of this chapter;

(Code 2019; Ord. G-20-07)

(a)   The owner or person in possession of any animal shall take all reasonable measures to keep such animal from becoming a nuisance. It shall be unlawful for the owner or person in possession of any animal to cause, permit or fail to exercise proper care and control to prevent such animal from performing, creating or engaging in an animal nuisance activity. For this provision, “animal nuisance activity” is defined as any animal which:

(1)   When unprovoked, chases or approaches a person or domestic animal in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack upon public property, public right-of-way, or private property owned by any person other than the owner or possessor of the animal, or on the owner or possessor’s property if the person is lawfully on the property in the performance of public duties, including public utility, mail delivery, or law enforcement purposes. Menacing shall mean the display by an animal of a disposition, determination or intent to attack or inflict injury or harm to a human being or other domestic animal, including displays of growling, charging, lunging, snapping or biting; or

(2)   When unprovoked, engages in a menacing behavior causing a person lawfully on abutting or adjoining private or public property or right-of-way to reasonably believe the safety of the person is threatened. Specific attention shall be paid to threatened safety of children. Such menacing behavior may include displays of growling, snapping or biting, or behaviors such as charging or lunging at or against a fence or other barrier separating the animal owner or possessor’s premises from other public or private property. Attempts by an animal to cross outside the owner or possessor’s premises through, over or under a fence or barrier may constitute menacing behavior; or

(3)   Attacks or injures a person or other domestic animal; or

(4)   Damages public or private property by its activities; or

(5)   Scatters refuse that is bagged or otherwise contained; or

(6)   Causes any condition which threatens or endangers the health or wellbeing of a person or other animal; or

(7)   Has or exhibits any possible signs or behaviors which would indicate the animal has been exposed to rabies, or

(8)   Is repeatedly running at large.

(b)   If a summons is issued charging violation of this section, a subpoena may also be issued to a complainant, witness or other person to testify under oath as to the animal nuisance activity.

(Code 2019)

The keeping, or harboring of any animal which by loud, frequent, and habitual barking, howling, yelping, mewing, clucking, cackling, squawking, roaring, or screeching shall disturb the peace of any neighborhood is hereby prohibited. It shall be the duty of any person harboring or keeping such loud or noisy animal or animals to abate the condition, and if he or she fails to do so, the city may abate it by taking up, impounding and/or disposing of the animal at the expense of the owner.

(Code 2019; Ord. G-20-07)

It shall be unlawful for any person to willfully allow any animal or fowl under his or her control to be or to run at large within the city. Any animal or fowl found at large shall be impounded as provided in section 4-114 or 4-309.

(Code 2019; Ord. G-20-07)

(a)   It shall be unlawful for any person to keep or maintain any animal in any yard, structure or area that is not clean, dry and sanitary, free from debris and offensive odors, and devoid of rodents or vermin.

(b)   Excrement shall be removed at least once each week from any animal shelter, pen or yard area where animals are kept, or more often if necessary to prevent or control odors, fly breeding, or rodent infestation. If excrement is stored on the premises by any animal owner, it shall be stored in adequate containers with fly-tight lids, and all such stored or accumulated wastes shall be disposed of at least once each week.

(c)   All animal shelters, pens and yards shall be so located that adequate drainage is obtained, normal drying occurs, and standing water is not present.

(d)   All animal shelters and board fences confining animals shall be maintained in good repair, and all animal shelters and board fences confining animals subject to residential and commercial classification shall be protected from deterioration by painting or comparable treatment.

(e)   Barbed wire fences and electrically charged fences shall not be permitted.

(f)   All premises on which animals are kept shall be subject to inspection by the animal control officer, duly authorized law enforcement officer, or public health official. If the officer or official determines from such inspection that the premises are not being maintained in a clean and sanitary manner, he or she shall notify the owner of the animals in writing to correct the sanitation deficiencies within 24 hours after notice is served on the owner. Any animal kept under any condition which could endanger the public or animal health or create a health nuisance may be impounded. Animals shall be released after fees are paid and cause for impoundment has been corrected.

(Code 2019)

Animal shelters owned or operated as a stockyard or commercial holding pen shall be adequately maintained and cleaned as often as is necessary, as determined by the animal control officer, to control fly breeding or to control other conditions adversely affecting the public health including the following:

(a)   Collected fecal material and other solid organic waste shall be disposed of at a sanitary landfill, fertilizer processing plant, or by proper dispersal on land used for agricultural purposes.

(b)   Grain or protein feed shall be stored in tightly covered rodent- proof metal containers or rodent-proof bins.

(c)   Premises subject to the terms of this section shall be maintained free of rodent harborage.

(d)   Wherever reasonable, use shall be made of anti-coagulant rodenticides for the control of rodents and organo-phosphorus insecticides for the control of flies or any other effective chemical means for the control of rodents and flies.

(e)   Wherever reasonable, use shall be made of soil sterilants and herbicides or other effective means for the control of weeds and grass around structures and buildings.

(f)   Enclosures including fences where animals such as horses, cows, sheep and goats are maintained shall be constructed in a manner, using dimension lumber materials, or other effective means to prevent such animals from breaking out or causing hazard to persons or property.

(g)   The solid wastes accumulated from the cleaning of animal shelters and holding pens maintained by persons subject to a residential classification permit as herein provided shall be stored in metal containers, with tight- fitting metal lids, and all such stored or accumulated wastes shall be disposed of at least once each week.

(h)   Holding lots, pens and floors of sheds and buildings where animals are held and which are maintained by persons subject to a commercial, industrial or agricultural classification permit according to the terms of this chapter shall be surfaced with concrete or asphaltic materials and that the drainage system of such surfaced areas shall include proper retaining walls and traps to control the waste from draining into watercourses and such drainage system shall be subject to the approval of the health officer. The animal control officer shall waive this standard for domestic animal holding operations where such animal holding is longer than 24 hours for any domestic animal involved or where dirt lots are more appropriate to the proper care of cattle, horses or sheep.

(i)    Solid wastes accumulated from the cleaning of animal shelters and holding pens maintained by persons subject to a commercial, industrial or agricultural permit according to the terms of this chapter shall be stored on concrete slabs or other facilities, such as dirt lots on which is stockpiled manure with an exposed perimeter as approved by the health officer; provided that all solid waste shall be properly disposed of at least once each week or as may be approved by the animal control officer.

(Code 2019)

All animals which die shall be disposed of by the owner or keepers within twenty-four (24) hours by burial, incineration in a facility approved by the animal control officer, by rendering or by other lawful means approved by the animal control officer. No dead animal shall be dumped on any public or private property. Dead animals, the ownership of which cannot be determined, and which are found on public property, shall be removed by the Department of Public Works.

(Code 2019)

The animal control officer or law enforcement officer shall impound any animal or fowl found at large in the city or constituting a nuisance or otherwise in violation of this chapter in procedure and form as described in Section 4-309.

(Code 2019)

At any time before the sale or destruction of any animal impounded under the provisions of this article, except no animal(s) impounded under Article 2 and 4-116 shall be redeemed without order from the court, the owner thereof may redeem the animal by paying the animal control officer or any person in charge, the impounding fee and all costs incurred because of such impoundment.

(Code 2019)

Any law enforcement officer or local health officer may take up, upon private or public property, any animal which has bitten or scratched a person or other animal and impound the animal in a veterinary premise or a facility holding a current state pound or shelter license.

The City of Plainville adopts by reference the current Kansas Department of Health and Environment “Rabies Control Requirements” as provided for in Kansas Administrative Regulation 28-1-13 (2018).

Any fees and impoundment costs resulting from the impoundment of an animal whether suspected of or having rabies shall be borne by the owner.

(Code 2019)

If a rabid animal causes imminent danger to the public safety, the Chief of Police may issue a proclamation ordering all persons owning any animal in the city to confine the animal in a good and sufficient enclosure from which the animal cannot escape, or fasten such animal by means of a chain on the premises where the owner may reside, for such time as may be specified in such proclamation. Any animal not confined during such time may be disposed of wherever found by any police officer, or the animal control officer of the city. The owner of such animal shall be prosecuted for such violation thereof.

(Code 2019)

Any person who as the operator of a motor vehicle strikes any animal shall stop at once and shall immediately report such injury or death to the owner of such animal, or if the owner cannot be ascertained, and located, the operator shall at once report the accident to the animal control officer or any law enforcement officer.

(Code 2019)

The above rules and regulations of this article are not intended nor do they in any manner restrict a licensed veterinarian of the city from performing all his or her functions as a licensed veterinarian in the normal and routine procedure for the care of animals and treatment of animals as a licensed veterinarian.

(Code 2019)

Any person violating or permitting the violation of any provision of this article shall upon conviction in Municipal Court be fined a sum not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00). In addition to the fine imposed the court may sentence the defendant to imprisonment for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days. Each day that a violation of this article continues shall be deemed a separate offense. In addition to the foregoing penalties, any person who violates this article shall pay all expenses, including shelter, food, handling, veterinary care and testimony necessitated by the enforcement of this article.

(Code 2019)