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Vicious Animals in the Proposed Unified Animal Ordinance For Orange County, North Carolina May 15, 2013 Introduction Attached is the section of the current version of the proposed unified ordinance pertaining to vicious animals. My goal is to identify what I will call “the elements” of this section to assure that the Animal Services Advisory Board has clarity about these elements. I will do so by creating a context for receiving the attached, and of course, I will be glad to discuss specific elements of the attached at the board’s request. Creating a Unified Ordinance Recall that the unified ordinance comes from our experience with the existing county animal control ordinance and the comparable ordinances in the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. All three of these ordinances are available online at http://orangecountync.gov/AnimalServices/info.asp. Our working group consisted of the staff attorney for Animal Services, the Carrboro Police Chief, a Carrboro Police Captain, the staff attorney for the Chapel Hill Police Department with animal control responsibilities, our Animal Control Manager and me in my role as Animal Services Director. Our work practice was to compare the same or similar section of the three ordinances and to decide which made the most sense in light of our combined experience in providing effective animal control services in our respective jurisdictions. In doing so, we identified some key gaps based upon our experience. These gaps are: 1. Required microchipping for identification 2. Clearly defined enclosure requirements 3. Enclosure requirements for animals declared under local as well as state law 4. Bites and aggression on owner’s property 5. Impoundment authority as needed to assure public safety 6. Appeal process of declarations made under local law More will be said below about these gaps.