Chapter 6.16 RABIES CONTROL

Chapter 6.16
RABIES CONTROL

Sections:

6.16.030 Exception to chapter provisions.

State law reference(s) – Rabies control, § 25-4-601, C.R.S. et seq.

6.16.010 Vaccination of animals.

All animals lawfully kept as pets which are capable of transmitting rabies and which are harbored, possessed or maintained within the City shall be inoculated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian and such vaccination shall be repeated annually thereafter. The owner acquiring such animal shall have the animal inoculated within 30 days after its acquisition, or before the animal reaches four months of age, whichever occurs last.

(Code 1994 § 6-91; Code 1965 § 6-16)

6.16.020 Biting animals – Quarantine.

(a) Notification – Confinement and Observation. The owner of any dog or other animal that is capable of transmitting rabies which has bitten any person shall immediately notify the Animal Control Officer or a police officer of such.

(1) It shall be unlawful for the owner of any dog or other covered animal that has bitten any person or that has been exposed to another animal that is believed to have rabies to destroy such animal before it can be properly confined and observed under the supervision of the County Health Department and/or the Animal Control Officer.

(2) Any dog or other covered animal that has bitten any person or has been exposed to another animal that is believed to have rabies shall be immediately confined and observed for a period of no fewer than 10 days from the date of the bite or exposure.

(i) Such confinement may be, at the discretion of the Animal Control Officer or police officer, on the premises of the owner if deemed appropriate with sufficient safeguard. If not on the owner’s premises, the confinement shall be at the animal control center or at any licensed veterinary hospital of the owner’s choice. Such confinement shall be at the sole expense of the owner.

(ii) When any dog or other covered animal is confined on the owner’s premises, the Animal Control Officer shall make frequent checks to determine the condition of the confined animal.

(3) Failure To Produce Animal – Penalty. The owner of any dog or other covered animal that has been reported as having inflicted a bite on any person shall, on demand of the Animal Control Officer or a police officer, produce the animal for examination and quarantine. It shall be unlawful for the owner of any such animal to fail or refuse to produce the animal on demand, and any such failure or refusal shall subject the owner to immediate arrest if there shall exist probable cause to believe that the animal in question has inflicted a bite upon a person and that the owner is harboring or keeping the animal and willfully refuses to produce the animal upon such demand. Upon arrest, the owner shall be taken by an officer of the Police Department before a judge of the Municipal Court, who may order the immediate production of the animal. Each day of such willful refusal to produce the animal shall constitute a separate violation and offense.

(4) Diagnosis by Veterinarian.

(i) When an animal under quarantine has been diagnosed by a licensed veterinarian as being rabid, the veterinarian making such diagnosis shall immediately notify the County Health Department and advise it of any reports of human contact with such rabid animal. The County Health Department shall, pursuant to its rules and procedures, humanely destroy such rabid animal.

(ii) If any animal under quarantine dies while under observation and before a diagnosis has been made, the Animal Control Officer shall immediately notify the County Health Department, which will take action to obtain a pathological and inoculation examination of the animal.

(iii) If after the 10-day or longer confinement and observation period provided for in this section the dog or other covered animal has not been diagnosed by a licensed veterinarian as having rabies, the quarantined animal shall be released from confinement by the Animal Control Officer upon payment of all impoundment and other quarantine fees as applicable and vaccination for rabies.

(b) Removal from Quarantine for Rabies. It shall be unlawful for any person to remove from any place of quarantine any animal which has been quarantined pursuant to subsection (a) of this section without the expressed consent of the Animal Control Officer.

(Code 1994 § 6-92; Code 1965 § 6-17)

6.16.030 Exception to chapter provisions.

Except where specific reference is made in this chapter to dogs, the provisions of this chapter shall not apply to dogs, which are treated in Chapter 6.12 GJMC.

(Code 1994 § 6-93; Code 1965 § 6-18)