Inhumane Treatment - 6.12

It shall be unlawful for any person:

1. To commit or cause to be committed any act of cruelty, harassment, or torture to any animal or to intentionally cause such animal to be mutilated or inhumanely killed.
2. To overload, overwork, torture, beat, mutilate, needlessly kill, cause harassment, or intentionally cause such animal to be inhumanely injured or killed, or otherwise treat any animal in a cruel or inhumane manner
3. As owner to fail to provide an owned animal with adequate and proper food, drink, protection from the weather, or adequate space, consistent with the normal requirements and habitats of the animal’s sex, species, and breed.
4. Ownership of an animal shall not be a defense to any charges brought for a violation of this Chapter.

It shall be unlawful for any person to poison any animal or to distribute poison or toxicants on public or private property in any manner whatsoever with the intent of poisoning any animal. This Section shall not be construed to prohibit the controlled poisoning of mice or rats.

It shall be unlawful for any person to abandon any animal.

It shall be unlawful for any person to set upon any property within the Town any stakes, pits, snare, traps, poison, or other device or substance calculated to cause, injury, or death to any animal. The fact that such device or substance is found or located on such land shall be presumptive evidence that the same was set by the person owning or in charge or control of such land. This Section shall not be construed to prohibit the trapping of mice or rats.

It shall be unlawful for any person to cause, instigate, or encourage any dog or other animal to fight with another of its own species or with another of a different species. It shall be unlawful for a person to train or keep any dog or animal for the purpose of fighting. Further, it shall be unlawful for any person to maintain a place where any dog or other animal is permitted to fight for wager or exhibition. It shall be unlawful for any person to be a spectator at any animal fight held for wager or exhibition.

Any animal found receiving inhumane treatment or whose life appears to be reasonably endangered as described in this Chapter, may be impounded at the expense of the owner by the code enforcement officer.