Chapter 115 of the laws of 1894
AN ACT FOR THE BETTER PROTECTION OF LOST AND STRAYED ANIMALS,
AND FOR SECURING THE RIGHTS OF THE OWNERS THEREOF
Section 1. The provisions of this act shall apply in the city of New
York.
§ 2. (1) Every person who owns or harbors one or more dogs within the
corporate limits of such city, shall procure a license for each dog as
provided in this act. In applying for such license to be issued or
renewed, the applicant shall provide in writing the name, sex, breed,
age, color and markings of the dog for which the license is to be
procured or renewed and such information that the commissioner of health
and mental hygiene of such city deems necessary to notify the applicant
when the license is due to be renewed or to contact the applicant in the
event the dog is found after becoming lost or strayed. Such commissioner
may issue rules requiring proof of rabies vaccination, or an affirmation
that such vaccine has been administered, as part of the application for
such license to be issued or renewed.
(2) Licenses issued or renewed under this act shall be valid for a
term of one year or, pursuant to rules issued by such commissioner, for
a period greater than one year.
(3) The fees for a license issued or renewed under this act shall be
set by local law, subject to the provisions of this subdivision. There
shall be a base fee for a license to be issued or renewed for any dog.
There shall be an additional fee for a license to be issued or renewed
for a non-sterilized dog. The amount of such additional fee shall be at
least eighty-five percent of the amount of the base fee. Applicants
shall pay the additional fee unless their application is accompanied by:
(i) a statement signed by a licensed veterinarian providing that the dog
has been sterilized or that such veterinarian has examined the dog and
found that because of old age or other permanent medical condition, the
life of the dog would be endangered by sterilization, or (ii) a
statement, approved as to form by such commissioner and affirmed by the
applicant, that the dog has been sterilized.
(4) The amount collected for the additional fee charged for a license
to be issued or renewed for an unsterilized dog as provided in
subdivision three of this section shall be forwarded to the city
comptroller for deposit in the animal population control fund created
pursuant to section 17-812 of the administrative code of the city of New
York.
(5) When a license is issued or renewed for a term other than one
year, the fees shall be a prorated amount of the fees per year set as
provided in subdivision three of this section.
(6) Any person who fails to renew a license prior to its date of
expiration may be required to pay a late fee upon renewal of a license,
with the amount of such late fee set by local law. Such amount shall be
no more than twenty percent of the amount of the base fee for a license
to be issued or renewed as provided in subdivision three of this
section.
(7) The application for a license to be issued or renewed shall be
accompanied by a statement as prescribed by such commissioner, notifying
the applicant that he or she may submit, along with the fees required by
this section, an additional amount to be utilized for the purpose of
funding low-cost sterilization services from the animal population
control fund created pursuant to section 17-812 of the administrative
code of the city of New York. Any additional amount submitted pursuant
to this subdivision shall be deposited in such fund.
(8) From the fees collected pursuant to this act for each dog license
issued or renewed, the sum of ten cents annually for the term of such
license shall be remitted by such city to the commissioner of
agriculture and markets on or before the fifteenth day of each month,
with such sum to be used to fund research into diseases of dogs and the
search for and the study of viruses that affect people and animals.
(9) The amount of any fee charged pursuant to this act shall not be
based in whole or part on the breed of the dog.
§ 3. (1) Any person who is required to obtain or renew a dog license
pursuant to this act but fails to do so may be issued a notice of
violation, returnable to the environmental control board or health
tribunal of the office of administrative trials and hearings of the city
of New York, and may be subject to a civil penalty of not more than
seventy-five dollars for the first violation and no more than one
hundred dollars when such person was found to have violated this section
within the preceding five years. Such notice of violation may be issued
by any officer or agent of the department of health and mental hygiene
of such city, or any other agency or entity designated by the
commissioner of health and mental hygiene or such city, when such
officer or agent observes the dog for which such license has not been
obtained or renewed.
(2) Notwithstanding subdivision one of this section, such notice of
violation may not be issued to a person when such person is in the
course of obtaining or renewing a license for the dog for which the
notice of violation would be issued. It shall be an affirmative defense
to any such violation that: (i) the person required to obtain or renew a
dog license duly applied for such license or renewal prior to the date
of the violation but the department of health and mental hygiene of such
city had not issued or renewed such license; or (ii) such person had
previously procured a license that was valid for a term that ended not
more than thirty days before such notice of violation was issued and
such person duly applied for renewal of such license subsequent to such
notice of violation being issued.
(3) Three quarters of any amount paid as a penalty for a violation
pursuant to this section shall be forwarded to the city comptroller for
deposit in the animal population control fund created pursuant to
section 17-812 of the administrative code of the city of New York, and
the remainder shall be used solely for carrying out the provisions of
this act, establishing, maintaining, or funding shelters for lost,
strayed, or homeless animals, providing or funding public education
regarding responsible animal care and dog licensing requirements, and
conducting other animal care and control activities.
§ 4. (1) With each license issued or renewed under this act, the
department of health and mental hygiene of such city shall supply the
applicant with a certificate of license or renewal stating the name and
address of the owner of the dog and the number of such license or
renewal.
(2) Every dog licensed under this act shall, at all times, have a
collar about its neck with a tag made of metal or other durable material
attached thereto, bearing the number of the license. Such tag shall be
supplied to the owner by such department. Such department shall provide
notice with each such tag that anyone who shall use a license tag on a
dog for which it was not issued shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor
as provided in section nine of this act. Nothing in this act shall
prevent such department from issuing specialty tags which, for an
additional cost set by local law, owners may purchase in lieu of the
standard tags issued pursuant to this section. The commissioner of
health and mental hygiene of such city may issue rules requiring that
dogs licensed under this act shall have attached to such collar a tag
indicating that a rabies vaccination has been administered.
(3) Such department may issue replacements for tags that are lost and
may require reasonable proof of loss of the original and payment of a
sum, set by local law, equal to the cost of replacement.
(4) On or about the thirtieth day before the end of the term for which
a license issued or renewed under this act shall be valid, such
department shall notify the licensee by mail or other means, using the
contact information provided pursuant to subdivision one of section two
of this act, of the date by which renewal is required, the manner in
which the licensee may apply for renewal, the fees associated with
on-time and late renewal respectively, and the penalties to which the
licensee may be subject under section three of this act in the event he
or she fails to renew such license.
§ 5. Dogs not licensed pursuant to the provisions of this act shall be
seized, and if not redeemed within forty-eight hours, may be destroyed
or otherwise disposed of, as hereinafter provided.
§ 6. It is further provided that any cat found within the corporate
limits of any such city without a collar about its neck bearing the name
and residence of the owner stamped thereon, may be seized and disposed
of in like manner, as prescribed above for dogs.
§ 7. Any person claiming a dog or cat seized under the provisions of
this act, and proving ownership thereof, shall be entitled to resume
possession of the animal on payment of the sum of three dollars.
§ 8. The department of health and mental hygiene of such city is
hereby empowered and authorized to carry out the provisions of this act,
and such department is further authorized to issue and renew licenses,
and to collect the fees set forth in this act or otherwise established
as prescribed in this act. Such fees, excluding the additional fees
charged for licenses to be issued or renewed for unsterilized dogs
pursuant to subdivision three of section two of this act and the amounts
specified in subdivision eight of section two of this act, shall be used
to defray such city's cost of carrying out the provisions of this act,
establishing, maintaining, or funding shelters for lost, strayed or
homeless animals, and providing or funding public education regarding
responsible animal care and dog licensing requirements.
§ 8-a. (1) No person holding a permit issued pursuant to section
161.09 of the New York city health code or a license issued pursuant to
article 26-A of the agriculture and markets law shall sell or transfer
ownership of a dog in such city without first requiring the purchaser or
other new owner to submit an application for a dog license and to pay
all required fees, unless such purchaser or other new owner shall
execute and submit to such seller or transferor a written statement that
the dog to be purchased or transferred is to be harbored outside such
city. Such applications and written statements shall be on forms
furnished by the department of health and mental hygiene of such city
and shall, within ten days after execution by a purchaser or other new
owner, be forwarded by the seller or transferor to such department.
(2) Any seller or transferor processing an application pursuant to
subdivision one or three of this section shall, on or before the tenth
day of the month next succeeding the month in which collected, remit to
such department the amount of fees collected less ten percent of the
base fees set pursuant to subdivision three of section two of this act
for each application processed.
(3) The commissioner of health and mental hygiene of such city may
designate any other person or entity, including but not limited to a
person or entity who provides care, treatment, services, or merchandise
for animals, to process applications for dog licenses, collect fees, and
remit the amount of fees collected less ten percent of such base fee in
accordance with this section and otherwise consistent with the
provisions of this act.
§ 9. Any person or persons, who shall hinder or molest or interfere
with any officer or agent of the department of health and mental hygiene
of such city in the performance of any duty enjoined by this act, or who
shall use a license tag on a dog for which it was not issued, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who for the purpose of
participating in the "animal population control program" shall falsify
proof of adoption from a pound, shelter, duly incorporated society for
the prevention of cruelty to animals, humane society or dog or cat
protective association or who shall furnish any licensed veterinarian of
this state with inaccurate information concerning his or her residency
or the ownership of an animal or such person's authority to submit an
animal for a sterilization procedure established pursuant to section
17-812 of the administrative code of the city of New York and any
veterinarian who shall furnish false information concerning an animal
sterilization fee schedule or an animal sterilization certificate shall
be guilty of a violation punishable by a fine of not more than two
hundred fifty dollars where prosecuted pursuant to the penal law, or
where prosecuted as an action to recover a civil penalty of not more
than two hundred fifty dollars. Notices of violation may be issued
pursuant to this act by any officer or agent of the department of health
and mental hygiene of such city, or any other agency or entity
designated by the commissioner of health and mental hygiene of such
city, and such notices of violation shall be returnable to the
environmental control board or to the health tribunal of the office of
administrative trials and hearings of the city of New York.
§ 10. The department of health of any city having a population of over
two million, in consultation with the American society for the
prevention of cruelty to animals, shall prescribe standards for such
city for the humane treatment of animals impounded pursuant to this act
and shall provide for regular inspection to ensure compliance with such
standards.
§ 11. Any animal impounded pursuant to this act which is unclaimed may
be delivered to an individual eighteen years of age or older for the
purpose of harboring such animal as a companion animal.
§ 12. No animal impounded pursuant to this act or in the care, custody
or control of an animal shelter or other facility for lost, strayed and
homeless animals shall be sold, transferred or otherwise made available
to any person for the purpose of research, experimentation, testing,
teaching or demonstration. Any person who violates the provisions of
this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of five hundred dollars
for each violation.
§ 13. (1) An exemption from the dog licensing requirements of this act
shall be provided for the following persons, organizations, and
businesses:
(a) individuals who are non-residents of such city, or who are
temporarily residing in such city for a period not to exceed thirty
days;
(b) individuals for the first thirty days after becoming a resident of
such city; and
(c) for dogs in their temporary custody for the purposes of redemption
by an owner, placement for adoption, boarding, grooming, training,
veterinary treatment or provision of other services: animal shelters,
duly incorporated humane societies, duly incorporated societies for the
prevention of cruelty to animals, duly incorporated animal protective
associations, boarding kennels, grooming parlors, salons, pet shops,
training establishments or similar businesses or establishments.
(2) An exemption from the dog license fees of section two of this act
shall be provided for guide dogs, hearing dogs, service dogs or police
work dogs, as such terms are defined in section 108 of the agriculture
and markets law.
§ 14. The thirtieth subdivision of section eighty-six of chapter four
hundred and ten of the laws of eighteen hundred and eighty-two, entitled
"An act to consolidate into one act and to declare the special and local
laws affecting public interests in the city of New York," and all other
acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are
hereby repealed.
§ 15. This act shall take effect immediately.
Last modified: February 3, 2019