Chapter 6.06
DEFINITIONS
Sections:
6.06.010 General.
For the purposes of this title and to clarify the intent and meaning of certain words or terms, the following list of definitions is provided. All other words used in this title carry their customary meaning. Words in the present tense include the plural, and vice versa. Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter. (Ord. 1105 § 2 (part), 2004)
6.06.020 Definitions.
“Adequate food and water” means food or feed appropriate to the species for which it is intended. Both food and water must be in sufficient quantity and quality to sustain the animal, and should be in containers designed and situated to allow the animal easy access.
“Adequate shelter” means a structure commensurate to the size of the inhabiting animal. The structure must have at least three walls, a roof, and a floor that is raised off the ground, including a door opening. The structure shall be properly shielded from the elements.
“Adult dog” or “adult cat” means any dog or cat over the age of four months.
“Animal” means any nonhuman mammal, reptile, amphibian, or bird.
“Animal control authority” means the person or department authorized by the city of Mukilteo to carry out the duties and responsibilities prescribed by this chapter.
“Animal services” means providing care, selling, training, transporting, exhibiting, grooming, bathing, cosmetic care, guard service, or any other similar activity for animals.
“Animal services facility” means any location where commercial activity takes place providing care, selling, training, transporting, exhibiting, grooming, bathing, cosmetic care, guard service, or any other similar activity for four or more animals, including veterinary offices, clinics and hospitals. These facilities do not include kennels of any type. If a veterinary office, clinic or hospital provides housing, boarding or breeding of animals not receiving medical treatment then they are kennels and must conform to all regulations in this title and Title 17 regarding kennels. No animal services facility shall harbor any inherently dangerous mammal or reptile as defined in this title.
“Animal shelter building” means a building used partially or exclusively for the shelter of animals with at least three walls and a roof, including a door opening properly shielded from the wind and rain, commensurate to the size of the inhabiting animal. All animal shelter buildings shall be at least thirty-five feet from all property lines and dwellings, except those housing rabbits or birds which shall be at least ten feet from all property lines and dwellings. Unless they are used as part of a hobby kennel, buildings used to house dogs are not animal shelter buildings so they do not require a conditional use permit nor do they have a required setback from property lines. All animal shelter buildings and buildings used to house dogs shall comply with setback and size requirements for structures.
“Animal shelter, nonprofit” means any not-for-profit facility operated by the Humane Society or a governmental agency or its authorized agents, especially any such agency with whom the city has a contractual relationship, the purpose of which is the impounding or destruction of and/or caring for animals regulated under the authority of this title or state law. No animal shelter, nonprofit, shall harbor any inherently dangerous mammal or reptile as defined in this title.
“At large” means any animal off the property of its owner, except when it is restrained by leash, tether or other physical control device not over eight feet in length and is under the physical control of a responsible person, whether or not that person is the owner of such animal.
“Barking dog” means any dog which, by frequent or habitual howling, yelping, whining, barking or other oral noises, which by its volume or frequency unreasonably disturbs or interferes with the peace of other persons in the vicinity of the premises or upon the public street or in a public place.
“Barn” means the same as “animal shelter building.”
“Bird” means any animal of the class Aves of warm-blooded, egg laying, feathered vertebrates with forelimbs modified to form wings.
“Chicken” means the commonly known domestic fowl “Gallus gallus domesticus” bred and raised for its eggs.
“City” means the city of Mukilteo.
“Colony” refers to a group of honey bees having a queen or queens.
“Commercial pet facility” means any place or entity where four or more animals at least four months of age are boarded or bred for the primary purpose of compensation, or where animals are housed for resale, such as pet shops. A commercial pet facility shall not include hobby kennels or a veterinary hospital where boarding is incidental to treatment. No commercial pet facility shall harbor any inherently dangerous mammal or reptile as defined in this title.
“Commercial purpose” or “commercial activity” means any activity or behavior that provides goods, merchandise or services for compensation. However, the sale of puppies or kittens from a hobby kennel does not constitute a commercial activity or commercial purpose as defined in this title.
“Dangerous animal” means any animal which the city or animal control authority reasonably believes has the propensity, tendency or disposition to attack unprovoked, to cause injury to, or otherwise to endanger the safety of humans or other animals; or which attacks or has attacked a human being or other animal without provocation.
“Dangerous dog” means any dog that inflicts severe injury on a human being without provocation on public or private property, kills a domestic animal without provocation while the dog is off the owner’s property, or has been previously found to be potentially dangerous because of injury inflicted on a human, the owner having received notice of such and the dog again aggressively bites, attacks, or endangers the safety of humans.
“Department” or “police department” means the city of Mukilteo police department.
“Grooming parlor” means any place or entity, public or private, stationary or mobile, where pets are bathed, clipped, or combed for the purpose of enhancing their aesthetic value and for which a fee is charged.
“Harbor” means, regardless of ownership, to maintain, lodge, feed, shelter or allow any animal to remain on property one owns, occupies or controls.
“Hearing examiner” means the hearing examiner appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the city council.
“Hen house” means a permanent or fixed house or shelter for chickens.
“Hive” means a manufactured receptacle or container prepared for the use of honey bees, that includes movable frames, combs, and substances deposited into the hive by bees.
“Honey bees” means adult insects, eggs, larvae, pupae, or other immature stages of the species Apis mellifera.
“Inherently dangerous mammal” is any live member of the Canidae, Felidae, or Ursidae families, including hybrids thereof, which, due to their inherent nature, may be considered dangerous to humans, and which include:
A. Canidae, including any member of the dog (canid) family not customarily domesticated by man, or any hybrids thereof, including wolf hybrids which are a cross between a wolf and a dog, but not including domestic dogs (Canis familiaris).
B. Felidae, including any member of the cat family weighing more than fifteen pounds not customarily domesticated by man, or any hybrids thereof, but not including domestic cats (Felis catus).
C. Ursidae, including any member of the bear family, or any hybrids thereof.
D. Nonhuman primates.
“Inherently dangerous reptile” is any live member of the class Reptilia which is:
A. Venomous, including all vipers and rattlesnakes, and including but not limited to:
B. All members of the following families: Helodermidae, Viperidae, Crotalidae, Altractaspidae, Hydrophilidae, and Elapidae (cobras, mambas, kraits, coral snakes, etc.).
C. Sea snakes.
D. Boomslangs.
E. Mexican beaded lizards.
F. Gila monsters.
G. A rear-fanged snake of the family Colubridae that is known to be dangerous to humans, including, but not necessarily limited to, all members of the following families: Dispholidus Typus; Thebtornis Kirtlandii; and Rhabdophis spp.
H. Members of the family Boidae (boas and pythons), and specifically any of the following species: Python reticularis (reticulated python), Eunectes sp. (anacondas), Python sebae (African rock python), but not including common boa constrictors under ten feet in length.
I. A member of the order Crocodilia (crocodiles, alligators, and caiman) and is more than one foot in length.
“Kennel, commercial” means any facility with a commercial purpose or where commercial activity takes place licensed to operate as a facility housing, boarding, and/or breeding dogs, cats, or other animals, that is conducted or operated for a commercial purpose or as a commercial activity, regardless of the number of animals harbored; or where there are more than two litters of kittens and/or puppies in any license year; or where four or more adult dogs and/or cats at least four months of age or combination thereof are kept, housed, boarded, or harbored for any purpose. No kennel shall harbor any inherently dangerous mammal or reptile as defined in this title.
“Kennel, hobby” means any facility at a private residence in a single-family residential zoning district where fewer than four adult dogs or cats, or a combination thereof, are bred or kept for hunting, training, organized show exhibition, field working, obedience trials, or for enjoyment of the species; provided, that dog and cat reproduction is limited to no more than two litters of puppies and/or kittens in any calendar year. No kennel shall harbor any inherently dangerous mammal or reptile as defined in this title.
“Livestock” means horses, ponies, mules, jackasses, cattle, sheep, llamas, goats, poultry, fowl, peacocks, swine and other similar animals.
“Lot” means a single tract of land, no matter how legally described, whether by metes and bounds and/or by lot or lots and block designation as in a recorded plat.
“Mason bees” means adult insects, eggs, larvae, pupae, or other immature stages of the genus Osmia.
“Owner” means any person or entity having a possessory interest or property right in an animal, or any person or entity who harbors, cares for, exercises control over, or knowingly permits any animal to remain on premises occupied by them.
“Permit” means either to actually allow the prohibited conduct or to know or have reason to know of the circumstances that foreseeably lead to the prohibited conduct if the person with such knowledge or reason to know of those circumstances has control over those circumstances sufficient to have reasonably prevented the prohibited conduct.
“Person” means individuals, firms, corporations, partnerships, associations or other legal entities, and agents of those entities.
“Police chief” means the head of the city’s police department or his designee.
“Police dog” means a dog used in support of the services provided by the Mukilteo police department or any other public law enforcement agency.
“Potentially dangerous animal” means any animal which when unprovoked inflicts a bite(s) on a human, domesticated animal, or livestock either on public or private property; or chases or approaches a person upon the streets, sidewalks, public grounds or private property in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack; or any animal with a known propensity, tendency, or disposition to attack unprovoked or to cause injury or otherwise to threaten the safety of humans or domesticated animals.
“Poultry” means domestic fowl normally raised for meat or eggs, and includes, but is not limited to, chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, and peafowl.
“Predator” means an animal capable of killing and consuming other animals. It includes, but is not limited to, any member of the Procyonidae, Canidae, Felidae and Didelphidae families (raccoons, dogs/coyotes, cats/cougars and opossums).
“Predator-resistant” means any form of construction to prevent the ingress of predators into structures or enclosures from the outside and consists of construction or treatment with materials that prevent access inside the structure or enclosure by predators.
“Proper enclosure of a dangerous animal” means, while on the owner’s property, a dangerous animal shall be securely confined indoors or in a securely enclosed locked pen or structure, suitable to prevent the entry of young children and to prevent the animal from escaping. Such pen or structure shall have sides secured either to a concrete floor or embedded at least six inches into the ground, shall have a secured top, and shall also provide protection from the elements for the animal. All enclosures shall be approved by the animal control authority.
“Rodent” means a member of the order Rodentia, including rats and mice in the family Muridae, any other introduced rodents, and various native species such as field mice, voles, wood rats, ground and tree squirrels and chipmunks.
“Rodent-resistant” means any form of construction to prevent the ingress of rodents into structures or feed storage containers from the outside or from one structure to another and consists of construction or treatment with material impervious to rodent gnawing of all actual or potential openings in exterior walls, ground or first floors and roofs that may be reached by rodents from the ground, by climbing or by burrowing.
“Rooster” means an adult male chicken.
“Secure pen” means any structure or enclosure having secure sides, bottom and top and designed to prevent entry by children or escape by the animal. If the pen has no bottom secured to the sides of the enclosure, the sides must be embedded not less than one foot into the ground.
“Service animal” means an animal in the service of a physically disabled person that has been trained or approved by an accredited school or state institution engaged in training animals for the purpose of assisting or accommodating physically disabled persons. Guide dogs and animals are included in this definition.
“Severe injury” means any physical injury that results in broken bones or disfiguring lacerations requiring multiple sutures or cosmetic surgery.
“Spayed” or “neutered” means medically determined to be incapable of reproduction; or having a medically determined physical condition which prohibits performance of a medical procedure to render the animal incapable of reproduction.
“Wild animal” means an animal living in its natural state and native to the United States and not normally domesticated, raised or bred by humans; or any animal that is imported from a wild state of another country that is not normally domesticated, raised or bred by humans. (Ord. 1303 § 1, 2012; Ord. 1267 § 1, 2011; Ord. 1105 § 2 (part), 2004)