Ordinance 88-2604 ORDINANCE NO. 88-2604
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COMMISSION OF
THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA ,
REPEALING CHAPTER 4 OF THE CODE OF THE
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, IN ITS
ENTIRETY AND CREATING A NEW CHAPTER 4
PROVIDING FOR THE INVESTIGATION ON PUBLIC
OR PRIVATE PROPERTY OF CIVIL INFRACTIONS
RELATING TO ANIMAL CONTROL OR CRUELTY,
PROVIDING FOR THE ISSUANCE OF CITATIONS
FOR THE COMMISSION OF CIVIL INFRACTIONS
RELATING TO ANIMAL CONTROL OR CRUELTY ,
AND PROVIDING FOR CIVIL PENALTIES NOT TO
EXCEED $500 FOR CIVIL INFRACTIONS
RELATING TO ANIMAL CONTROL OR CRUELTY;
REPEALING ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT
HEREWITH; PROVIDING FOR SEVERABILITY; AND
PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH,
FLORIDA:
SECTION 1. That Chapter 4 of the Code of the City of Miami
Beach be and the same is hereby repealed in its entirety and a
new Chapter 4 is created to read as follows:
Chapter 4. ANIMALS AND FOWL
ARTICLE I. DEFINITIONS
(1 ) As used in this section, the term:
(a) "Animal" means any living dumb creature.
(b) "Animal control officer" means any person employed or
appointed by Dade County or the City of Miami Beach who is
authorized to investigate, on public or private property, civil
infractions relating to animal control or cruelty and to issue
citations as provided in this section. An animal control officer
is not authorized to bear arms or make arrests.
(c) "Control " means the regulation of the possession ,
ownership, care, and custody of animals.
(d) "Cruelty" means any act of neglect, torture, or torment
that causes unjustifiable pain or suffering of an animal .
(e) "Law enforcement officer" means any person who is
elected, appointed, or employed full time by the City of Miami
Beach or the state or any political subdivision thereof, who is
vested with authority to bear arms and make arrests, and whose
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primary responsibility is the prevention and detection of crime
or the enforcement of the penal, criminal, traffic, or highway
laws of the state. This definition includes all part-time law
enforcement officers, auxiliary law enforcement officers, and all
certified supervisory and command personnel whose duties include,
in whole or in part , the supervision, training, guidance, and
management responsibilities of full-time law enforcement
officers , part-time law enforcement officers, or auxiliary law
enforcement officers but does not include support personnel
employed by the employing agency.
( f) "Veterinarian" means a person who is licensed to engage
in the practice of veterinary medicine in Florida under the
authority of state law.
(g) "Officer " means any law enforcement officer , any
veterinarian or any animal control officer .
(h) "Citation" means a written notice, issued to a person
by an officer , that the officer has probable cause to believe
that the person has committed a civil infraction in violation of
a duly enacted ordinance and that the county court will hear the
charge. The citation shall contain:
1 . The date and time of issuance.
2. The name and address of the person.
3 . The date and time the civil infraction was committed.
4. The facts constituting probable cause.
5 . The ordinance violated.
6. The name and authority of the officer .
7 . The procedure for the person to follow in order to pay
the civil penalty or to contest the citation.
8 . The applicable civil penalty if the person elects to
contest the citation.
9. The applicable civil penalty if the person elects not
to contest the citation.
10 . A conspicuous statement that if the person fails to pay
the civil penalty within the time allowed, or fails to
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appear in court to contest the citation, he shall be
deemed to have waived his right to contest the citation
and that, in such case, judgment may be entered against
the person for an amount up to the maximum civil
penalty.
( i ) "Ordinance" means any ordinance relating to the control
of or cruelty to animals enacted by the governing body of Dade
County or The City of Miami Beach the violation of which is a
civil infraction.
ARTICLE II. PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF ANIMAL CONTROL
ORDINANCES
All violations of Chapter 4 of the Code of the City of Miami
Beach are civil infractions . During a one-year period, each
violation of Chapter 4 shall constitute a separate offense.
Violations of this chapter will be punished as follows:
(a) For a first violation, by a civil penalty of $50 . 00 .
(b) For a second violation, by a civil penalty of $100. 00 .
(c) For each additional violation, by a civil penalty of
$200 .00.
(d) Any person who fails to pay the appropriate civil
penalty within the time allowed or who fails to appear in
court to contest the citation, shall be deemed to have
waived his right to contest the citation and judgment may be
entered against the person for an amount not to exceed
$500.00.
ARTICLE III. ENFORCEMENT BY CITATIONS
Any officer who has probable cause to believe that a person
has committed an act in violation of an animal control ordinance
of the City of Miami Beach or Dade County shall issue a citation •
to that person.
Any person cited for a violation of this section shall be
deemed to be charged with a civil infraction and shall be cited
for such an infraction and cited to appear before an official .
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Any person cited for an infraction under this section shall
sign and accept a citation indicating a promise to appear .
Any person charged with a civil infraction under this
section may pay the civil penalty, either by mail or in person,
• within 20 days of the date of receiving the citation. If the
person cited follows the above procedure, he shall be deemed to
have admitted the infraction and to have waived his right to a
hearing on the issue of the commission of the infraction.
ARTICLE IV. WAIVER OF CIVIL PENALTY PROVISION
Any person electing to appear before the designated official
shall be deemed to have waived his right to the civil penalty
provisions of Article II , Sections (a)-(c) .
The official, after a hearing, shall make a determination as
to whether an infraction has been committed. If the commission
of an infraction has been proven, the official may impose a civil
penalty not to exceed $500 .00 .
ARTICLE V. REFUSAL TO SIGN AND ACCEPT A CITATION
Any person who willfully refuses to sign and accept a
citation issued by an officer shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of
the second degree, punishable as provided by Florida Statutes
775 . 082, 775. 083 or 775.084 .
ARTICLE VI. VIOLATIONS
Section 4-1 . Injuring , killing , etc. , squirrels and
alligators prohibited.
It shall be prohibited for any person to injure, kill,
hunt, destroy, capture or molest, by any means whatsoever or in
any manner or form, within the city, any squirrel, alligator or
crocodile.
Section 4-2. City declared a bird sanctuary.
All territory embraced within the city is hereby
declared to be a bird sanctuary.
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Section 4-3. Birds- Molesting, etc. , prohibited;
exceptions.
It shall be prohibited for any person to injure, kill,
hunt, destroy, capture or molest, by any means whatsoever or in
any manner or form, any bird within the city; provided, that the
chief of police may issue a special permit therefor to persons
holding a valid permit to destroy birds for scientific purposes
issued by the state fish and game commission and by the United
States Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior .
Section 4-4. Same- Use of snares prohibited.
No person shall, at any time, within the city, make use
of any pitfall, deadfall, scaffold, cage, snare, trap, net, salt-
lick, blind-pen, bait-hook, bait-field or any similar device or
any drug , poison, chemical or explosive for the purpose of
injuring, capturing or killing any game birds or wild birds .
Section 4-5. Same- Destroying, etc. , eggs prohibited.
No person within the city shall take or willfully
destroy the nests or eggs of any game birds or wild birds or
shall have nests or eggs of any game bird or wild bird in his
possession.
Section 4-6. Poultry or fowl running at large.
It shall be prohibited for any person owning or
controlling, or having in his custody any poultry or fowl of any
kind, to permit or allow the same to run at large in the city.
Section 4-7. Cruelty to Animals.
It shall be prohibited for any person in the city to
neglect , torture , torment , or commit any act that causes
unjustifiable pain or suffering of an animal . Under this
section, prolonged and frequent noise by any animal shall be
probable cause to find that neglect, torture or torment has been
committed or is being committed by any person who has an animal
in his custody or control .
Section 4-8. Keeping hogs within city prohibited.
It shall be prohibited for any person to have in his
possession, control, management or custody, any swine within the
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city.
Section 4-9. Keeping of animals and fowl under insanitary
conditions prohibited; notice; abatement.
It shall be prohibited for any person to pen, confine
• or keep any flock of fowl or any animal in the city in such place
or in such manner so that the unsightly appearance shall be
objectionable or the odor and noise caused, produced or created
by such fowl, birds or animals shall be offensive, unhealthful or
objectionable to persons of ordinary sensibility, longer than
seventy-two hours after written notice to abate or remove such
objectionable feature from the persons offended by or objecting
thereto.
Section 4-10 . Keeping animals or vermin deleterious or
harmful to public health or perilous to public safety prohibited;
exception.
It shall be prohibited for any person to keep, harbor
or maintain any animal or vermin whose natural actions and
presence are or may be deleterious or harmful to the public
health or which may imperil the public safety; provided, that
this section shall not apply to circuses, carnivals or similar
enterprises which are engaged in the exhibition of animals.
Section 4-11. Keeping livestock in residential zones
prohibited.
It shall be prohibited for any person to keep, stable,
harbor or maintain any horse, poultry, livestock or farm animals
in any residential district , provided, however, that nothing
herein contained shall be construed so as to prohibit the
keeping , stabling , harboring or maintaining of any horse ,
poultry, livestock or farm animals in such residential districts
for public events such as circuses, shows and similar events, or
in any special cases, for temporary periods of time, as approved
by the city commission.
Section 4-12. Dogs prohibited in public parks and on
beaches.
It shall be prohibited for any person to take any dog
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into, or to keep any dog in or upon, any public park or public
beach in the city.
Section 4-13. Same; Running at large prohibited.
It shall be prohibited for the owner or person in
control of any dog to allow such dog to run at large. All dogs,
when not on the premises of the owner thereof, or of the person
in control thereof , must be on leash under the control of a
competent person.
Section 4-14. Same; Committing nuisances prohibited.
No dog , even though licensed , muzzled or inoculated
against rabies and fastened to a suitable leash, shall be
permitted to commit a nuisance of any kind or character upon any
public or private property other than the property of the owner
of the dog , and upon public property of the city that lies
entirely between the street curbs, excluding the sections of the
streets normally used by pedestrians.
Section 4-15. Certain Noises Prohibited.
It shall be prohibited to keep any animal or bird
which, by causing frequent or prolonged noises of a continuing
nature, shall disturb the comfort, repose or peace of any person
in the vicinity. "Noises" shall be defined as intense, annoying
or disagreeable sounds and shall include barking , crying ,
meowing , neighing, whinnying , yelping , whining, and crowing.
Under this section, it shall also be prohibited to create or
maintain, or, cause or permit to be maintained, a nuisance. A
nuisance is hereby declared to be anything which tends to annoy
the community, disturb the peace, and injure the health of the
citizens.
Section 4-16. Procedure where dog suspected of rabies or
having been bitten by such a dog.
If a dog is believed to have rabies or has been bitten
by a dog suspected of having rabies, such dog shall be confined
by a leash or chain on the premises of the owner or the person in
control thereof, and shall be placed under the observation of a
veterinarian at the expense of the owner for a period of two
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weeks . The owner shall notify the chief of police of the fact
that his dog has been exposed to rabies and at his discretion,
the chief of police is empowered to have such dog removed from
the premises of the owner or person in control thereof to a
veterinary hospital and there placed under observation for a
period of two weeks at the expense of the owner .
It shall be prohibited for any person knowing or suspecting
that a dog has rabies to allow such dog to be taken off his
premises without the written permission of the chief of police.
Every owner, or other person, upon ascertaining a dog is rabid
shall immediately notify the chief of police or a policeman who
shall remove the dog to the place kept for that purpose.
Section 4-17. Hunting dogs.
It shall be prohibited for any person to train, exercise,
hunt with or allow to run at large, any setter, pointer or other
dog used for the hunting of wild or game birds within the city.
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ARTICLE VII. ADOPTION BY REFERENCE
To the extent that the provisions of this Chapter are
subject to enforcement under Section 828. 27, Florida Statutes,
the provisions of Chapter 5 entitled "Animals and Fowl" of the
Dade County Code, and the other provisions of Chapter 828, Fla.
Statutes are hereby adopted by reference so long as such adoption
does not conflict with state law.
SECTION 2. REPEALER.
All ordinances or parts in conflict herewith be and the same are
hereby repealed.
SECTION 3. SEVERABILITY.
If any section, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is
held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any court of competent
jurisdiction , then said holding shall in no way affect the
validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance.
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
This ordinance shall take effect ten ( 10 ) days after its
adoption, on March 12 1988 .
PASSED and ADOPTED this 2nd day of March 988.
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VICE j uR
ATTEST:
-(iiii:,,i 571, i
City Clerk
1st Reading - February 17, 1988 FORM APPROVED
2nd Reading - March 2, 1988
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2/16/88 Date_ .'�—l G"Ti
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