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04,jo -tea ©1 - ©1 S <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: May 29, 2001 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No._ <br />SUBJECT: Proposed Amendment to "An Ordinance Prohibiting the Keeping of Wild <br />Animals Dangerous to Persons and Property Within Orange County" <br />DEPARTMENT: Health <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Draft Amended Ordinance <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) Yes <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Health Director, ext 2411 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough <br />732 -8181 <br />Chapel Hill <br />968 -4501 <br />Durham <br />688 -7331 <br />Mebane <br />336- 227 -2031 <br />PURPOSE: To hear public comment on the proposed amendments to the ordinance prohibiting <br />the keeping of wild animals dangerous to persons and property within Orange County. <br />BACKGROUND: <br />This ordinance was first passed in 1983 and has not been reviewed since that passage. The <br />Board of Health's Animal Control and Environmental Health Committee found the language in <br />the ordinance pertaining to permitting the keeping of such animals during the ordinance's <br />phase in period and the accompanying language on structures and enclosures that <br />accompanied the permits to be confusing. That language had been included in the ordinance <br />in order to allow those residents who already owned such animals to continue to keep the <br />animals until they died or the residents moved from the county. No permits are currently on file <br />or valid under the provisions of the'1983 ordinance. <br />This amended ordinance is unchanged from the 1983 ordinance in that it continues the <br />prohibition against owning wild animals dangerous to persons and property; it does not <br />prohibit the ownership of exotic animals. <br />The county attorney's office drafted the amended ordinance as attached. <br />The Board of Health took official action at its January 25, 2001 meeting to recommend the <br />attached revised ordinance. The amended ordinance strikes all language pertaining to <br />permitting and physical enclosures. This clarifies that the keeping of wild animals dangerous to <br />persons and property within Orange County is not allowed. The only exemption allowed is for <br />animals used for teaching and /or research purposes at the University of North Carolina at <br />Chapel Hill. <br />