§ 4-1. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Animal means any live, vertebrate creature, domesticated or wild, except homo sapiens.

Animal control officer means the person so designated by the city and specifically authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter.

Animal shelter means any facility designated by the chief of police to be utilized for the purpose of impounding or caring for animals held under the authority of this chapter or the statutory law of the state.

Auction means any place or facility where animals are regularly bought, sold or traded, except for those places or facilities otherwise defined in this chapter.

Circus means a commercial variety show featuring animal acts for public entertainment.

Commercial animal establishment means any pet shop, grooming shop, auction, riding school or stable, zoological park, circus, performing animal exhibition or kennel.

Domestic animal means any ferret or animal which is neither a wild animal nor a farm animal as herein defined.

Farm animal means any dumb creature, such as chickens, hogs, pigs, horses, cows, goats or sheep, which can commonly be found on farms.

Grooming shop means any commercial establishment where animals are bathed, clipped, plucked or otherwise groomed.

Harbor means to feed or to permit any animal to remain and be lodged on premises which one owns or over which one has control for three consecutive days or longer.

Humane officer means any person designated by a humane society and appointed a deputy sheriff by the county sheriff pursuant to the laws of the state.

Kennel means any premises wherein any person engages in the business of boarding, breeding, buying, letting for hire, training for a fee or selling animals.

Owner means any person who owns, keeps or harbors one or more animals.

Performing animal exhibition means any spectacle, display, act or event, other than circuses, in which performing animals are used.

Pet means any animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.

Pet shop means any person whether operated separately or in conjunction with another business enterprise except for a kennel, which buys, sells or boards any animals.

Public nuisance means any animal which molests pedestrians or passing vehicles, habitually attacks other domestic animals, trespasses on the property of another, is repeatedly at large, damages or destroys private or public property or habitually barks, whines, yelps or howls disturbing the peace of the neighborhood.

Riding school or stable means any place that has available for hire, boarding or riding instruction any horse, pony, donkey, mule or burro.

Veterinary hospital means any establishment maintained and operated by an accredited veterinarian for surgery, diagnosis or treatment of diseased or injured animals.

Vicious domestic animal means a domestic animal which has bitten more than one person or which has bitten three or more animals within a 12-month period.

Wild animal means any live nonhuman primate, raccoon, skunk, bobcat, snake, fox, poisonous snake, leopard, panther, tiger, lion, lynx or any other animal which can normally be found in the wild state.

Zoological park means any facility, other than a pet shop or kennel, which displays or exhibits one or more species of wild animals.

(Code 1977, § 5-1; Ord. No. 192, 12-21-1992; Ord. No. 216, 11-28-1995)