(a)   Every owner of any dog over six months of age shall annually register with the city clerk his or her name and address with the name, sex and description of each dog owned and kept within the city. It shall be unlawful for the owner of any newly acquired dog or any dog brought into the city to fail to register such animal within 30 days from acquisition or bringing the dog into the city. It shall be unlawful for the owner of any previously registered dog to fail to maintain current registration of such dog.

(b)   Upon registration, the owner shall present a current, completed certificate of immunization against rabies. No registration shall follow without evidence of this document, and it shall be unlawful for the owner of any dog over six months of age to fail to maintain effective rabies immunization of such dog.

(c)   The owner or harborer of any dog shall, at the time of registering such dog, present to the city clerk a certificate from an accredited veterinarian showing that a male dog has been neutered or a female dog has been spayed, if the dog has been neutered or spayed.

(d)   The city clerk shall collect an annual registration fee of $5.00 for each neutered male dog and for each spayed female dog, and $10.00 for each un- neutered male dog and for each un-spayed female dog.

(e)   The registration year shall be from January 1st through December 31st of each year. The fee shall be payable before March 1st of each year or within 10 days of acquisition of the dog without penalty.

(f)   Any person owning or harboring a dog which has been retired from the United States Armed Forces, or a dog trained to lead blind persons, which shall be registered as a seeing-eye dog, shall upon application to the city clerk and presenting satisfactory proof of the same, be entitled to register such dog with the city clerk and receive a license therefor without payment of any tax required by this article; and no tax shall be due or payable by the owner or keeper of any dog who shall keep the same temporarily within the city; provided, that no dog exempted hereunder shall at any time be permitted to be at large within the city unless followed or accompanied by and under the immediate control and call of the owner or keeper thereof.

(g)   It shall be the duty of the city clerk during the first week of January, and the last week of February of each year to publish once in each of such weeks in the official city paper a notice of the tax required to be paid by this article together with a summary of the code section pertaining to dogs running at large in the city.

Registration fees as enumerated above may be prorated for newly acquired dogs or for dogs owned by a person or persons moving to and establishing a home in the city during a calendar year. Every owner or harborer of dog or dogs who shall fail to register the same prior to the 1st day of March of each year shall pay in addition to the registration fee herein provided a penalty fee for late registration of $2.00 per month.

(Code 1968, 2-301:304,306:309; Code 1990)

It shall be the duty of the city clerk or designated agent, upon a showing of current rabies immunization and receipt of the registration fee hereinbefore required, to keep in a book suitable for the registration of dogs, the time of the registration, the name of the owner or keeper, the number of the registration and the amount paid therefor, and shall deliver to the owner or keeper of the dog a certificate in writing, stating that the person has registered the dog and the number by which the dog is registered, and shall also deliver to the owner or keeper of the dog a tag with the registration number and the registration year thereon, which shall be, by the owner or keeper, attached to the collar to be used on the dog so registered. When any tag has become lost during a registration period, the owner of the dog may request a duplicate tag for the remainder of the registration period. When so requested, the city clerk shall, upon presentation of the registration certificate, issue a duplicate of such tag upon the payment of $1 fee. It shall be unlawful for any person to take off or remove the city registration tag from any dog belonging to another, or remove the strap or collar on which the same is fastened.

(Code 1990)

It shall be unlawful for any person to place on any dog a tag issued for any other dog or to make or use any false, forged or counterfeited tag or imitation thereof.

(Code 1990)

It shall be unlawful for the owner of any dog kept within the city to fail to display a current certificate of immunization against rabies issued by an accredited veterinarian evidencing the vaccination of such dog within two years, when requested by the animal control officer or any law enforcement officer.

(Code 1990)

The provisions of this article with respect to registration shall not apply to any dog owned by any person visiting or temporarily remaining within the city for less than 30 days. However, such dogs shall be kept under restraint by the owner thereof at all times.

(Code 1990)

(a)   It shall be unlawful for the owner or harborer of any dog to permit such dog to run at large within the city at any time;

(b)   Any dog running at large within the city shall be impounded as set out in section 2-207;

(c)   For the offense of an animal running at large the owner or harborer claiming any dog shall pay the board bill for the dog in addition to a fine to be set by Resolution of the City of Ellis, Kansas, which increases incrementally for subsequent offenses.

(Ord. 1273; Code 2009)

(a)   Any dog found in violation of the provisions of this article shall be subject to impoundment by the city.

(b)   A record of all dogs impounded shall be kept by the city containing the following information: color, sex, weight, height, identifying marks, registration number (if any) and the date of impoundment.

(c)   If the dog impounded has a current registration tag attached to its collar or if the impounding officer knows the identity of the dog’s owner, the owner of such dog, as shown by the records of the city clerk shall be notified in writing as soon as possible or at least 24 hours before such dog is disposed of by destruction or sale. If, at the end of three days the city clerk has been unable to locate the owner, or the owner, upon having been located, refuses to claim or redeem said dog, then the dog may be sold, euthanized, or otherwise disposed of.

(d)   If the dog impounded has no current registration tag and the identity of the animal’s owner is unknown to the animal control officer or the impounding law enforcement officer then such impounding officer shall, upon taking any such animal into custody and impounding the same:

(1)   Make a record thereof, with a description of the animal and the date and place taken into custody and the place of impounding;

(2)   Immediately post a public notice on the door of the office of the city building with a picture of the dog where the notice can be viewed by the public without having to enter the city building, stating that the animal, describing the same with the date and place of taking, has been taken up.

Unless the charges of impounding the same, together with any license fees due and unpaid, are paid within three business days from the date of the notice, that the animal will be disposed of as provided in this code. If within three full business days the owner does not appear to claim the dog, then the dog may be sold, euthanized, or otherwise disposed of.

(e)   If at any time before the sale or destruction of any dog impounded under the provisions of this article, the owner of an impounded dog does appear and redeem the dog, it shall be turned over to the person claiming it upon payment of any impoundment fees or penalties plus the actual costs of impoundment, and shall not apply to any dog alleged as being vicious under section 2-115 or suspected of rabies under section 2-119 of this code.

(f)   The minimum impoundment fee shall be $7.00.

(g)   Any dog impounded may not be released without a current rabies vaccination.

(h)   Impoundment hereunder shall not preclude any court from imposing and executing any fine which might otherwise be levied under this article for violation of any of the provisions thereof; nor shall impoundment be a defense in any prosecution commenced hereunder.

(i)    The redemption of any dog impounded for a violation of any provision of this chapter shall be prima facie evidence of the violation of such provision by the person redeeming the dog.

(Ord. 1134, Sec. 2; Ord. 1168, Secs. 2:3; Code 2002)

(a)   If any dog is not redeemed by its owner or harborer within the time allowed for redemption as specified in section 2-207 thereof, the animal control officer, any authorized law enforcement officer, any authorized veterinarian or any duly authorized pound personnel may destroy such dog or sell the same for the costs of impoundment and keeping, plus any registration fee due for the current year.

(b)   No dog may be transferred to the permanent custody of a prospective owner unless:

(1)   Such dog has been surgically spayed or neutered before the physical transfer of the dog occurs; or

(2)   The prospective owner signs an agreement to have the dog spayed or neutered and deposits with the city not less than the lowest nor more than the highest cost of spaying or neutering in the community as determined by the city. Any funds deposited pursuant to such an agreement shall be refunded to such person upon presentation of a written statement signed by a licensed veterinarian that the dog has been spayed or neutered. If such person does not reclaim the deposit within six months after receiving custody of the dog, the city shall keep the deposit and may reclaim the un-spayed or un-neutered dog.

(c)   Nothing in this section shall be construed to require sterilization of a dog which is being held by the city and which may be claimed by its rightful owner within the holding period established in section 2-207.

(Code 2002)

Any un-spayed female dog in the stage of estrus (heat) shall be confined during such period of time in a house, building or secure enclosure, and the area of enclosure shall be so constructed that no other dog or dogs may gain voluntary access to the confined animal except for purposes of planned breeding. Any animal that is in the state of estrus (heat) and that is not properly confined, or any such animal that is creating a neighborhood nuisances, shall be removed to a boarding kennel, to a veterinary hospital or to the animal shelter. All expenses incurred as a result of the confinement shall be paid by the owner. The owner of animals removed to the animal shelter shall be charged at the rate established from time to time by the animal shelter for routine confinement.

(Code 1990)

Whenever the mayor shall deem it necessary for the protection and welfare of the inhabitants of the city, he or she shall issue an order requiring all dogs kept within the city to be effectively muzzled for such length of time as may be specified in the order, to prevent them from biting or injuring persons or animals. Such order shall be published in the official newspaper of the city for such period of time as the mayor may deem necessary.

(Code 1968, 2-317; Code 1990)

(a)   It is unlawful for any person to picket a dog for more than six continuous hours.

(b)   For the purpose of picketing a dog, a chain, leash, rope, or tether shall be at least ten feet in length.

(c)   A chain, leash, rope, collaring device, tether or any assembly or attachments thereto used to picket a dog shall not weigh more than one-eighth of the animal’s body weight, or due to weight, inhibit the free movement of the animal within the area picketed.

(d)   Dogs shall be picketed in such a manner as to prevent injury, strangulation, or entanglement on fences, trees, or other manmade or natural obstacles.

(e)   It is unlawful to attach chains or other tether restraint implements directly to a dog without the proper use of a collar, harness, or other device designed for that purpose and made from a material that prevents injury to the animal.

(Ord. 1322; Code 2022)