Yreka Municipal Code Ch. 8.12 Public Pound—pound Master

A public pound is authorized and established, which pound shall be located at a place to be designated, from time to time, by resolution of the city council.

(Ord. 266 § 1, 1951).

The city council shall appoint some suitable person, firm, corporation or association as pound master, who shall have charge of the public pound hereby provided for and established and who shall perform the other duties herein specified. The pound master shall have the right to appoint subordinate assistants and delegate his duties to them. Such pound master may be an employee holding another office or position with the city.

(Ord. 266 § 2, 1951).

It shall be the duty of the pound master to take up and impound all horses, mules, asses, goats, cows, bulls, calves, sheep and all hogs and untagged dogs or any such animals found running at large or estrayed, upon any public street, alleyway, sidewalk, vacant lot, or any public place in the city, or any of the animals, except dogs, under certain conditions, which is upon, or being led, or driven upon any sidewalk in the city.

(Ord. 266 § 3, 1951).

The pound master shall keep a true record of the number and description of all animals taken into custody, with the date of their receipt, and the date and manner of their disposal, with the fees and charges collected on account of the animals, and the disposition thereof; the record to be kept by the pound master in a book or books provided for that purpose, which shall be the record book or books of the office of the pound master, and shall not be removed therefrom. He shall also keep conspicuously posted, at the entrance of the pound, a list of all animals therein detained. He shall also provide necessary subsistence for all animals while in his custody.

(Ord. 266 § 7, 1951).

Horses, cows, bulls, oxen, mules, or asses, if not reclaimed within two days thereafter, shall be advertised for sale once in a newspaper published in the city, and at the pound gate, and on the bulletin board at the city hall, for five days; smaller animals such as hogs, sheep, lambs, goats and other small animals may be advertised by written notice conspicuously posted on the pound gate, and on the bulletin board at the city hall for three days. The notice shall describe the animals impounded and give the time and place of their sale.

(Ord. 266 § 8, 1951).

At the time specified as provided in Section 8.12.050, or at any postponement thereof, the pound master shall sell, for cash, all animals so advertised, and out of the proceeds of the sale thereof, collect proper fees and charges, and all reasonable and proper demands made under the provisions of this chapter.

Any balance of the proceeds of a sale of any animal remaining after payment of such fees, charges and demands, shall be paid into the city treasury, for the use of the owner of such animal, if claimed within six months thereafter, if not, the same shall be turned into the general fund of such treasury.

(Ord. 266 § 9, 1951).

The owner or person entitled to the control of any animal impounded may, at any time before the sale, or other disposition thereof, redeem the same by paying to the pound master all proper fees and charges thereon, made by virtue of any of the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. 266 § 10, 1951).

Editor's note— Ord. No. 824, § 6, adopted June 2, 2011, repealed § 8.12.080, which pertained to pound master shall report monthly, and derived from Ord. 266, 1951.

All fees to be collected hereunder shall be fixed by resolution of the city council, collected by the pound master and turned into the city treasury general fund.

(Ord. 266 § 20, 1951).

No person shall resist or interfere with the pound master or any of his deputies in the discharge of their official duties.

(Ord. 266 § 21, 1951).

If a sale is not made by the pound master at the time stated in his published or posted notice, the sale may by him be postponed from day to day, until the animals offered are sold. Notice of such postponement shall be given in the same manner as provided for the original notice of sale, but no fees shall be charged for posting notices for such postponement.

(Ord. 266 § 23, 1951).

Any animal may be reclaimed by the owner or person entitled to its control before the sale thereof, by paying all fees and charges that have been incurred or accrued up to the time of reclamation, and any such animal may be reclaimed after having been taken up by the pound master and before it has been placed in the pound, by paying the same fee that the pound master would be entitled to if the animal were actually impounded.

(Ord. 266 § 24, 1951).

It shall be the duty of the pound master to remove from any public street, public grounds, alley or sidewalks, any animal found dead thereon.

(Ord. 266 § 25, 1951).

The pound master may retake, within six days, any animal directly or indirectly conveyed or delivered out of the pound without lawful authority and again impound and retain the same, and proceed as hereinbefore provided in the same manner as if the animal had never been released from the pound, provided, that when any animal escapes from the pound, without the assistance or knowledge of the owner thereof, the city shall not be entitled to fees for again impounding the same within the period of six days.

(Ord. 266 § 26, 1951).

In the event of emergencies such as the declaration of a rabid area by State Health Department officers, the state laws dealing with such conditions shall be recognized and enforced in conjunction with this chapter, or if necessary, shall supersede the provisions of this chapter.

(Ord. 266 § 31, 1951).

It shall be the duty of the pound master to suppress and/or exterminate all wild animals, beasts, noxious birds and reptiles, save those classified as vermin, that come or are brought into the city limits which are not confined and/or privately owned.

(Ord. 266 § 33, 1951).

Any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter, Chapter 8.04 and/or Sections 8.08.110 and 8.08.190 is guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a period of not more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(Ord. 440 § 1 (part), 1970; Ord. 266 § 27, 1951).