At its meeting Tuesday night, 12/5/2006, the Carbondale City Council adopted an ordinance amending title 3, Animals, of the Carbondale Revised Code. Although it has not yet been codified (incorporated into the code), the ordinance has been published in pamphlet form. You can find the calendar, agenda, minutes, and audio recordings for City Council meetings at the public meetings page on the Carbondale city government website.
Most of the changes are based on recent changes to Illinois statutes concerning the definitions and control of dangerous and vicious dogs. See Ill. Pub. Act No. 94-639, amending the Illinois Animal Control Act, 510 ILCS 5/1–5/35. Other amendments are intended to create an incentive for spaying and neutering dogs and to permit prosecution for inhumane treatment of animals, including starvation, lack of fresh water, leaving a pet in a parked vehicle, and abandoning animals.
The amendments raise fees for licenses to $2 for spayed or neutered dogs and to $10 for unaltered dogs. (3-4-1C) Applications for licenses are due by December 31 each year; the penalty for late application is $10 for altered dogs and $20 for unaltered dogs. (3-4-1F) Some fines are also larger if the dog has not been spayed or neutered. (3-8-1A)
The amendments also add starving and refusing water to the definition of cruelty to animals (3-6-2); add a new subsection on abandonment and endangering (3-6-9); and significantly increases the penalties for a number of violations, including cruelty to animals and abandonment or endangering. (3-8-2D)
The image above is from Struwwelpeter: Merry Tales and Funny Pictures, by Heinrich Hoffman, found at Project Gutenberg.
