§ 462.102. Definitions.

For the purposes of this Chapter, the following terms shall have the following definitions unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(a)

Allow or Permit , in addition to their common meanings, shall also includes any failure to take reasonable proactive measures to restrict the animal from engaging in any activity prohibited by this Chapter.

(b)

Animal means any live vertebrate creature including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, but not humans, and/or as defined in F.S. § 828.02.

(c)

Animal Care and Protective Services Division, or ACPS, means the City's Animal Care and Protective Services Division of the City's Neighborhoods Department, acting alone or in concert with other local governmental units authorized to enforce the animal control laws of the City, County, or State.

(d)

Animal control officer (Animal Code Enforcement Officer) means any individual employed, contracted with, or appointed by the Animal Care and Protective Services Division, who is authorized to investigate violations of State Law, as defined in F.S. § 828.27, and to enforce civil infractions relating to animal control or cruelty and who is authorized to issue citations, for the purpose of aiding in the enforcement of this Chapter or any other law or ordinance relating to the control and treatment of animals and also includes any State or local law enforcement officer, as defined in F.S. § 943.10.

(e)

Animal shelter means any public or private organization existing for the purpose of the prevention of cruelty to animals and/or for the sheltering of animals and that is incorporated or chartered under the laws of the State of Florida or established by legislation and also includes a person who rescues, shelters or provides a foster home facility, any of which places animals for adoption, whether for a fee, a donation or for free.

(f)

At-large means that an animal is off the property of its owner, unless restrained by leash or tether of appropriate length, or other physical control device, such that the animal is under the physical control of a responsible person, and (i) the animal has entered upon the property of another person without authorization of that person, or (ii) the animal has entered onto public property, street or right-of-way. If the owner's, leaser's, or renter's property is located within a community association or other common-property arrangement, it shall also be considered off the owner's, leaser's, or renter's property if the animal leaves the owner's curtilage and onto common property, unless such property is clearly designated as an 'off-leash' area. An animal on a retractable or other trolley leash system shall be considered at-large if the leash is extended beyond eight feet in length since adequate physical control cannot be maintained over the animal.

(g)

Business day means Monday through Friday but excluding official holidays recognized by the City (New Years Day, Martin Luther King's Birthday, President's Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans' Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas). Unless a provision in this Chapter specifically refers to "business" day, any reference to "day" shall mean a calendar day.

(h)

Commission means the State of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission or may be referred to as FWC.

(i)

Community Cat means any free-roaming cat that may be cared for by one or more residents of the immediate area who is/are known or unknown; a community cat may or may not be feral. Community cats shall be distinguished from other cats by being sterilized and ear tipped; qualified community cats are exempt from licensing, stray and at-large provisions of this ordinance and may be exempt from other provisions directed toward owned animals.

(j)

Community Standards means the minimum accepted standards of care for animals based upon the overall Jacksonville community of pet owners and established guidelines of professional animal associations and/or groups. The City of Jacksonville (through the Chief of ACPS) may, from time to time, assemble a representative group of animal owners and experts as an issue-specific advisory committee to help identify current community standards; such advisory committee shall be limited in scope and service, and shall be disbanded upon final recommendation to the Chief of ACPS. The Chief of ACPS may remove any member at any time for any reason within his/her discretion. Subsequent committees, as needed, will be formed anew rather than having an ongoing membership of interested parties. For purposes of representing the City, the Chief of ACPS is considered a subject matter expert, including but not limited to the recommendations of any such Community Standards Advisory Committee. Nothing in this definition prohibits other vetted experts from providing their opinion of community standards in Jacksonville.

(k)

Control means the provision, ownership, care and/or custody of an animal or animals (see "Physical Control" definition).

(l)

Cruelty means any act of cruelty upon an animal as defined in Part 2 and/or as provided in F.S. Ch. 828.

(m)

Domestic means tame, usually by generations of breeding, and living in close association with humans as a pet, work animal or farm animal in such a way that creates a dependency on humans so that the animal loses its ability to live in the wild.

(n)

Duval County Health Department, or DCHD, means the Health Department, Rabies Control and the Health Director or the Director's designee.

(o)

Enclosure or Outdoor Enclosure means any structure with at least three walls, a roof, and floor in adequate condition as not to endanger the safety of the animal and as to provide necessary protection of the animal from weather conditions. An enclosure must be properly located so that it does not allow for standing water to pool inside the enclosure following any weather event or other water intrusion. For pets not declared dangerous a residence may be considered a proper enclosure; different rules as specified in this chapter apply to a 'proper enclosure' for declared dangerous dogs.

(p)

Feral means a wild animal that exists in an untamed state or that has returned to an untamed state generally not socialized to human contact and is no longer considered domesticated. Feral animals shall include, but not be limited to cats, dogs and hogs.

(q)

Game means those animals that may be legally hunted for food or sport including, but not limited to, deer, bear, squirrels, rabbits, and where designated by the Commission rules, wild hogs, wild ducks and geese, rails, coots, gallinules, snipe, woodcock, wild turkeys, grouse, pheasants, doves and quail.

(r)

Gamecock means any fowl, usually roosters, used for or being trained to perform cockfighting or simulated cockfighting events. Prima facie evidence of a gamecock shall be the removal of the comb and/or waddle which are rich in blood vessels to allow the bird to regulate body temperature. Additional indications of gamecocks include, but are not limited to, cut spurs and shaved feathers

(s)

Harbor means the act of caring for and keeping an animal or the act of providing a premise or residence to which the animal returns for food, shelter or care for a period of at least ten days, or at the point where the caregiver is providing the primary source of sustenance for the animal; whichever time is shorter. If the City establishes a program for the maintenance of feral or community cats, those persons maintaining those cats will be regulated in accordance with such program.

(t)

Hobby Breeder means any individual not qualified as a pet dealer whose primary source of income is not derived from the sale of animals who may sell, trade, exchange or give away up to 20 unsterilized animals (the individual litter that brings the total offspring born to 20 or more meets the requirement of the 20 animal maximum) per calendar year provided that the litters are registered with ACPS. Registration shall be in the form of a letter stating when the litter was born and the number of animals in the litter.

(u)

Household pet means an animal including, but not limited to: dog; bird; domesticated cat; rodent, such as a gerbil, guinea pig, hamster, domesticated mouse, and domesticated rat; domesticated or European ferret; rabbit; fish; nonvenemous reptile and amphibian; that is kept as subordinate to residential use for the purpose of providing human companionship and that is not protected by the Commission and that does not require a permit by the Commission to possess for personal use. The following animals are not considered household pets: wild animals as defined in this Section; poultry, as defined in this Section; livestock, as defined in this Section; and hoofed animals of any kind, including but not limited to, miniature horse, miniature goat and teacup pig, except that purebred miniature Vietnamese potbellied pigs, kept for the sole purpose of providing human companionship and kept in compliance with all applicable provisions of this Chapter are considered household pets.

(v)

Livestock means any grazing animal, such as horses, cattle, sheep, donkeys, mules, buffalo, llamas, swine, goats and other hoofed animals, and emus, ostriches, and rheas, that are raised for private use or commercial purposes; however, purebred miniature Vietnamese potbellied pigs kept for the sole purpose of providing human companionship and which are in compliance with all applicable provisions of this Chapter are not considered livestock.

(w)

Microchip Identification - See Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID).

(x)

Nuisance means any act performed or permitted to occur (including permitted by lack of reasonable and appropriate action/control required for prevention) which injures or prevents another from enjoying his/her legal rights, in particular, the creation of conditions (including created by lack of reasonable and appropriate action/control required for prevention) leading to the excessive breeding of fleas or flies, odors or noises and other obnoxious circumstances caused by the keeping of animals.

(y)

Occasional selling means any selling, trading or giving away of an animal or a litter of puppies, kittens, or other animals, that is on a random, unsystematic basis and that does not exceed the selling, trading or giving away of a total of ten individual unsterilized animals (the individual litter that brings the total offspring born to ten or more meets the requirement of the ten animal maximum if the animals are being bred) in a calendar year.

(z)

Owner means any person, household, firm, corporation, or other organization possessing, harboring, keeping, or having control or custody of an animal; a person must be age 18 or older to be considered the legal owner of an animal. If a person under the age of 18 is considered the custodian or caretaker of the animal, the parents or legal guardians shall be considered, the legal owner of the animal and responsible for all matters involving that animal. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that the person's name appearing on the animal's registration or radio frequency identification device (RFID), commonly known as a "microchip," is the owner.

(aa)

Person means any individual person, firm, corporation or other organization. The knowledge and acts of agents and employees of a firm, corporation or other organization, with regard to the treatment of animals owned, in the custody of or transported by such firm, corporation or other organization, shall be the knowledge and acts of the firm, corporation or other organization.

(bb)

Physical Control means adequate domination or power to influence/oppress the actions of the animal to prevent the animal from engaging in biting, aggression towards people or animals, straying, being at-large or other behaviors regulated by this ordinance or state law by the use of a proper leash or similar device attached to an appropriate collar or harness. To maintain physical control the animal must be on a leash not to exceed eight feet at its maximum extension. Animals on longer leashes or similar devices extended beyond eight feet shall be considered not under physical control and may be subject to being treated as at-large for provisions of this ordinance, enforcement shall take place if and only if another violation of this ordinance has occurred at the same time. Nothing in this definition is intended to prevent dogs being on training leashes or while engaged in other appropriate activities under adequate, responsible adult supervision where care is taken to assure control as needed is available to prevent violations of this ordinance.

(cc)

Poultry means domesticated birds, such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, guineas and pigeons, that are usually raised for eggs and/or to provide food for humans.

(dd)

Quarantine or ten-day quarantine means confining an animal for observation of any symptoms of rabies, which confinement is typically for a ten-day time period from the date of the bite, scratch or other potential rabies exposure, unless a longer time period is required pursuant to State regulations and guidelines.

(ee)

Rabies means an acute, fatal, infectious disease of the central nervous system that is transmitted when the virus is introduced into bite wounds, open cuts in skin, or onto mucous membranes.

(ff)

Rabies alert means public notification that there has been a confirmed case of animal rabies within a specific geographic area.

(gg)

Rabies quarantine area means laboratory confirmation that there is an epidemic level of rabid animals within a geographic area.

(hh)

Rabies vector means any warm-blooded animal that is capable of harboring the rabies virus for an indefinite period of time including, but not limited to, bat, raccoon, fox and skunk.

(ii)

Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID), commonly referred to as a "microchip", a device about the size of a grain of rice encased in surgical glass that is implanted underneath the skin of a dog, cat or other animal that when scanned produces a unique number that identifies the animal and its owner (if properly registered). When present, an RFID with registration information shall be considered the primary indication of ownership.

(jj)

Stray means any animal that is found to be at-large, whether lost by its owner or otherwise, or that is on the common areas of apartments, condominiums, trailer parks or other multi-residential premises, and that does not have an identification tag and for which there is no identifiable owner; however, if the City establishes a program for the maintenance of feral cats or community cats this provision shall not apply to qualified animals in those programs.

(kk)

Sufficient Food means access to proper food for the species of animal on a regular, ongoing basis in quantities sufficient to maintain a regular body weight as designated by objective measurement tools such as "Body Condition Score (BCS)" systems. As an example, regular body weight would be the "ideal" level (4 or 5) on the internationally recognized veterinary and animal welfare Purina Body Score System Chart. Animals under active, current veterinary care may deviate from the scale based upon the expertise of a licensed veterinarian.

(ll)

Sufficient Water means access to clean, potable water on a regular, ongoing basis in quantities to prevent the animal from exhibiting signs of dehydration.

(mm)

Transporting means shipping, transporting, carrying, importing, exporting, receiving or delivering for shipment, transportation, carriage or export.

(nn)

Veterinarian means an individual who is licensed to engage in the practice of veterinary medicine in Florida under the authority of F.S. Ch. 474.

(oo)

Wholesome exchange of air means sufficient ventilation or other means of air exchange adequate to prevent the accumulation of noxious odors and limit airborne disease transfer and adequate air movement in/through the structure.

(pp)

Wild animal means any member of the animal kingdom including, but not limited to, any mammal, fish, bird, amphibian, reptile, mollusk, crustacean, arthropod, or other invertebrate, but excluding those animals listed under the definitions for household pet, livestock and poultry.

(Ord. 2004-259-E, § 1; Ord. 2010-527-E, § 2; Ord. 2011-732-E; Ord. 2013-209-E, § 40; Ord. 2016-140-E , § 16)

Editor's note

Ordinance 2007-839-E, § 18, authorized updated department/division names pursuant to reorganization.