Agenda - 05-29-2001-c1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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