§ 14-33. Abandonment of animals.

(a)

Any person who is the owner or possessor, or has charge or custody, of any animal and who abandons such animal to suffer injury or malnutrition or who abandons any animal in a street, road, private property or public place without providing for the care, sustenance, protection, and shelter of such animal, shall be in violation of this article.

(b)

Any person who releases within the county any non-native species to Florida without having obtained a permit to do so from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, shall be in violation of this article.

(c)

Upon receipt of affidavits from two citizens who are not residents of the same household, or upon the report of a law enforcement officer, stating that an animal appears to have been abandoned, or upon receipt of a report that a nonindigenous animal has been released, the department may investigate the matter and thereupon is authorized to impound the animal and disposition of the animal shall be in the manner provided by this article, with the assistance of a law enforcement officer, if necessary. The department shall cause written notice, bearing the address where the animal may be claimed by the owner thereof and the time by which the animal must be claimed, to be sent to the owner, if known, at the owner's last known address.

(Ord. No. 17-07, § 1, 2-21-17)

State law reference

Abandonment of animals, F.S. § 828.13.