Dana Point Municipal Code Ch. 10.01 General Provisions (CA)

§ 10.01.010. Definitions.¶

As used in this Title:

"Adoption fee"

means any compensation or monetary exchange for the purpose of taking ownership or custody of an animal.

"Animal"

means any vertebrate creature, domestic or wild, including, but not limited to, birds, fishes, reptiles and nonhuman mammals.

"Animal Control Officer"

means any person designated by the General Manager of the Authority as a law enforcement officer who is qualified to perform such duties under the laws of this State.

"Animal menagerie"

means a place where wild and/or exotic animals are kept or maintained for any commercial purposes.

"Animal shelter"

means any facility operated by the cities served by the Authority or its authorized agents for the purpose of impounding or caring for animals held under the Authority of this Title or State law.

"Approved rabies vaccine"

means a vaccine which is approved for use in the animal concerned by the California Department of Health.

"Approved research institution"

means a college, hospital, university or research laboratory conducting research under humane conditions, if the General Manager so finds and certifies in writing.

"At large"

means a dog or cat shall be deemed to be "at large" when off the property of the owner and not under restraint.

"Auction"

means any place or facility where animals (excluding dogs and cats) are regularly bought, sold or traded, except for those facilities otherwise defined in this Title. This definition does not apply to individual sales of animals by owners.

"Authority"

refers to the Coastal Animal Services Authority.

"Birth control measures"

means the surgical alteration of female and male cats and dogs, popularly referred to as spaying and neutering; utilization of approved mechanical birth control devices, such as intrauterine devices; chemical birth control agents as approved by the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association.

"Board of Directors"

means the policy-making body for the Authority consisting of elected officials from each jurisdiction served by the Authority and support staff.

"Care and Evaluation Committee"

means an advisory committee to the General Manager or the Authority, whose purpose is to make recommendations to improve the quality of life and future well being of animals.

"Cat"

means and includes domesticated members of the species Felis catus. This definition excludes other members of the family Felidae.

"Charitable auction"

means any and all auctions carried out by a charitable organization for the purpose of fundraising.

"Charitable organization"

means a nonprofit organization which qualifies under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code as a charitable organization.

"Circus"

means a commercial variety show featuring animal acts for public entertainment.

"Coastal Animal Services Authority" or "CASA"

means a joint powers authority created to facilitate the animal control, welfare, and licensing requirements of the cities served.

"Commercial"

means operated or carried on primarily for financial gain.

"Commercial animal establishment"

means any pet shop, commercial animal rescue shop, grooming parlor, animal auction, animal dealer who operates for profit, riding school or stable, zoological park, circus, performing animal exhibition, commercial kennel/cattery, or animal shelter.

"Commercial animal exhibition"

means any display containing one or more animals which are exposed to public view for entertainment, instruction or advertisement, excluding fairs, livestock shows, rodeos, purebred dog and pedigree cat shows, obedience trials and competitions, field trials, and any other fair or exhibition intended to advance agricultural arts and sciences.

"Commercial animal rescue shop"

means a commercial establishment that offers dogs and/or cats for a nonprofit adoption fee, and such dogs and/or cats are made available to the establishment by nonprofit humane societies, animal shelters, bona fide animal rescue organizations, or the San Clemente-Dana Point Animal Shelter.

"Commercial breeder"

means an owner/lessor/breeder of dogs and cats who is licensed to breed animals for resale, individually or in litter lots, whether any of these animals are also kept for personal use.

"Commercial exhibitor"

means any person exhibiting any animals to the public for compensation, such term including carnivals, circuses and animal acts exhibiting such animals whether operated for profit or not.

"Commercial kennel/cattery"

means any person maintaining, for profit, an establishment where animals of any species are kept for the purpose of breeding, grooming, boarding, or exhibiting such animals; or selling animals of any species (excluding dogs and cats); or engaged in the training of dogs.

"Dangerous animals"

means any animal of a species which presents a threat to the safety of persons or property, as determined by the General Manager.

"Dealer"

means any person who, for compensation or profit, buys for resale any animals (excluding dogs and cats), whether alive or dead, for research, experimentation, testing or exhibition (except as an exhibitor as herein described) or for use as pets.

"Dog"

means and includes domesticated members of the species Canis familiaris. This definition excludes other members of the family Canidae.

"Enclosed space"

means a space other than a motor vehicle enclosed by four walls of such dimensions that the animal could not escape the enclosure.

"Euthanasia"

means the humane death of an animal brought about by an authorized person and by a method approved by the Authority and the local veterinary doctors.

"Garbage"

means any waste consisting in whole or in part of animal wastes resulting from the handling, preparing, cooking and consuming of food, including the offal from animal carcasses or parts thereof.

"General Manager"

means the individual serving as the director of the Authority, or designee.

"Grooming parlor"

means any place where animals are groomed, clipped, bathed, or otherwise conditioned as pets and/or for show in exchange for a fee except as a service offered by commercial or service kennel and cattery, or by a licensed veterinary hospital.

"Guard dog (sentry dog)"

means any dog utilized, on a commercial basis, to guard any property within the cities served by the Authority, including guarding against fire or theft or both.

"Guide dog"

means a properly trained dog certified by a licensed guide (Seeing Eye) dog agency and actually being used by a blind person.

"Horse stable"

means any location where three or more horses are maintained for any purpose.

"Humane society"

means any nonprofit organization existing for the purpose of prevention of cruelty to animals, incorporated under the laws of any U.S. State.

"Impounded"

means having been received into the custody of any animal shelter, or into the custody of the General Manager or authorized agent or deputy.

"Infectious disease"

means any infectious, contagious or communicable disease sufficiently dangerous to the public health or to the health of animals within the cities served by the Authority to warrant putting into effect the provisions of this Title and any rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

"Kennel"

means any premises wherein any person engages in the business of boarding, breeding, letting for hire, or training for a fee, animals of any species; or buying and/or selling animals of any species (excluding dogs and cats).

"Kitten"

means any Felis catus under four months of age.

"License"

means a fee collected by the Authority program for: (a) commercial establishments keeping animals; (b) commercial establishments providing services related to animals; (c) commercial establishments selling domestic or nondomestic animals (excluding dogs and cats); and (d) individual household pets.

"Licensing authority"

means the General Manager of the Authority or any designated representative thereof charged with administering the issuance and/or revocation of permits and licenses under the provisions of this Chapter.

"Livestock"

means any domesticated animals including cattle, horses, ponies, stallions, colts, geldings, mares, sheep, rams, lambs, bulls, bullocks, steers, heifers, cows, calves, mules, jacks, jennets, burros, goats, kids, swine, confined and domesticated hares and rabbits, poultry, and equines which are kept in captivity or under the control or ownership of any person for any purpose.

"Neutered"

means rendered permanently incapable of reproduction. To be acceptable, the neutering must be certified to by a licensed veterinarian.

"Nuisance"

means a condition in which an animal: damages, soils, defiles or defecates on private property other than the owner's or on public walks and recreation areas unless such waste is immediately removed and properly disposed of by the owner; causes unsanitary, dangerous or offensive conditions; causes a disturbance by excessive barking if confirmed by three independent witnesses, or other noise making; or chases vehicles, or molests, attacks or interferes with persons or other domestic animals on public property.

"Operator"

means the legal owner or person in actual control of any activity involving animals.

"Owner"

means the actual custodian of an animal, whether or not that person is the legal owner, the caretaker, or merely the possessor of an animal. Legal ownership is established by a person being registered as the owner on a license or other legal document.

"Performing animal exhibition"

means any spectacle, display, act or event other than circuses, in which performing animals are used.

"Permit"

means an authorization from the Authority or any city served by the Authority, stipulating conditions under which nondomesticated animals may be kept in commercial and private establishments.

"Person"

means any individual or business, partnership, firm, joint stock company, corporation, association, society, trust, estate, other legal entity, and every officer, agent or employee thereof who own, harbor, or keep animals within the cities served by the Authority.

"Pest breeding hazard"

means the accumulation, existence or maintenance of any substance, matter, material or condition resulting in the breeding of flies, cockroaches, rats or other insects or rodents in an amount or manner such as to endanger public health or safety, or to create unreasonable interference with the comfortable enjoyment and use of life and property by others.

"Pet"

means any animal kept for pleasure rather than utility.

"Pet shop"

means any person, partnership or corporation, whether operated separately or in connection with another business enterprise, that buys for resale and sells at retail, any species of animal (excluding dogs and cats) bred by others, whether as owner, agent, or on consignment, and that sells or offers to sell to the general public at retail.

"Potentially dangerous dog"

has the same meaning as that term is used in California Food and Agriculture Code Section 31602.

"Poultry"

means all domesticated fowl and all game bird which are held in captivity.

"Primary enclosure"

means any structure used to immediately restrict an animal or animals to a limited amount of space, such as a room, pen, run, cage, compartment or hutch.

"Private animal owner"

means a person having bred, adopted or purchased a dog, cat or other animal permitted by this Title, for his or her personal use and enjoyment, and who keeps or maintains said animal within the cities served by the Authority for a period of more than seven days.

"Private animal refuge"

means owners and harborers of unwanted animals of any species, including cross-breeds, who provide food, shelter, confinement, licensing, and spaying/neutering for a group of animals.

"Private breeder"

means a dog or cat owner/fancier who breeds an occasional litter of purebred animals for his or her personal use and enjoyment, from animals personally owned or leased for the breeding, who neither sells the resultant offspring for resale to commercial outlets, nor for purposes of research, testing or laboratory experimentation.

"Private exhibitor"

means any organization sponsoring and all persons participating in fairs, livestock shows, rodeos, purebred dog and cat shows, obedience trials, field trials, and any other fairs or exhibitions intended to advance agricultural arts and sciences.

"Private kennel/cattery"

means the home and premises of a person who owns four or more dogs and/or cats that are four months of age or older for the pleasure and enjoyment of the owner.

"Public nuisance"

means any animal or animals which: (a) molests passersby or passing vehicles; (b) attacks other animals; (c) trespasses on school grounds; (d) is repeatedly at large; (e) damages private or public property; or (f) barks, whines or howls in an excessive, continuous or untimely fashion.

"Puppy"

means any Canis familiaris under four months of age.

"Quarantine"

means the strict confinement of an animal upon the premises of the owner or elsewhere as approved by the General Manager.

"Registration"

means the method of identifying animals through an identification number at the animal shelter. It shall not be the same as a license.

Restraint.

A dog or cat shall be considered under "restraint" if it is within the real property limits of its owner or secured by a leash or lead or under the control of a responsible person.

"Riding school or stable"

means any place which has available for hire, boarding and/or riding instruction, any horse, pony, donkey, mule or burro.

"Run"

means floor or surface and cage, exclusive of the sleeping box, used to continually contain or maintain dogs or cats.

"Severe injury"

means any physical injury to a human being that results in muscle tears or disfiguring lacerations or requires multiple sutures or corrective or cosmetic surgery.

"Spayed"

means rendered permanently incapable of reproduction. To be acceptable, the spaying must be certified to by a licensed veterinarian.

"Stockyard"

means any stockyard, corral or premises wherein public trading in livestock is carried on, or where yarding, feeding and watering facilities are provided and where Federal, State or local inspection is maintained for the inspection of livestock for infectious diseases.

"Tattoo"

means any permanent marking identifying the animal, including, but not limited to, microchips.

"Unaltered"

means an animal which has not been spayed or neutered.

"Veterinarian"

means a veterinarian with a valid license to practice veterinary medicine, dentistry and surgery, issued by the Board of Examination Veterinarian Medicine of the State of California.

"Veterinary medical facility"

means any establishment maintained and operated by a licensed veterinarian for surgery, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and injuries of animals.

"Vicious dog"

has the same meaning as that term is used in California Food and Agriculture Code Section 31603.

"Vivisection"

means the cutting of or operation on a living animal usually for physiological or pathological investigations.

"Wild/exotic animals"

means animals which are being kept for exhibition purposes or as private pets including monkeys, raccoons, skunks, fox, snakes, leopards, panthers, tigers, lions, birds or any other warm-blooded animal which can normally be found in the wild state.

"Zoo"

means a collection of living animals for public display.

"Zoological park"

means any facility, other than a pet shop or kennel, displaying or exhibiting one or more species of nondomesticated animals operated by a person, partnership, corporation or government agency.

(Added by Ord. 96-01, 1/9/96; amended by Ord. 12-01, 1/31/12; Ord. 12-02, 1/31/12; Ord. 23-03, 4/18/23; Ord. 25-16, 11/18/2025)

Exceptions & meaning →

§ 10.01.020. Responsibility for Administration.¶

The General Manager of the Authority is charged with the administration of the provisions of this Title.