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i <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: August 14, 2001 <br /> Action Agend <br /> Item No. _ <br /> SUBJECT: Proposed Amendment to An Ordinance Prohibiting the Keeping of Wild <br /> Animals Dangerous to Persons and Property Within Unincorporated Areas of <br /> Orange County <br /> DEPARTMENT: Health PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> Draft Amended Ordinance Rosemary Summers, ext 2411 <br /> TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br /> Hillsborough 732-8181 <br /> Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br /> Durham 688-7331 <br /> Mebane 336-227-2031 <br /> PURPOSE: To consider adopting the proposed amendments to the ordinance prohibiting the <br /> keeping of wild animals dangerous to persons and property within the unincorporated areas of <br /> Orange County. <br /> BACKGROUND: This ordinance was first passed in 1983 and has not been reviewed since <br /> that passage. The Board of Health's Animal Control and Environmental Health Committee <br /> found the language in the ordinance pertaining to permitting the keeping of such animals during <br /> the ordinance's phase-in period and the accompanying language on structures and enclosures <br /> that accompanied the permits to be confusing. That language had been included in the <br /> ordinance in order to allow those residents who already owned such animals to continue to <br /> keep the animals until they died or the residents moved from the county. No permits are <br /> currently on file 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. The ordinance only applies to the unincorporated <br /> areas of Orange County. It would not apply within the municipalities of the County unless the <br /> respective jurisdictions themselves also adopted the ordinance. <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 />