Animal Control Report Lawyer in Los Angeles, CA Bite Reports, Quarantine and Records

The health report, and who must make it

County Veterinary Public Health administers animal bite reporting. Its guidance states that all persons with knowledge of a bite are required to report it, that all mammal bites are reportable other than bites from small rodents and rabbits, and that the current location of the biting animal is one of the most important parts of the report because it determines whether the animal can be confined and observed. It also states that a report of a bite does not mean the animal has been deemed dangerous, and that a resident who believes an animal is dangerous must file a separate report with the local animal control agency. Certain cities take their own reports, including Pasadena, Long Beach and Vernon, each at its own number, and the program lists its own office address on North Figueroa Street with a telephone number for inquiries (Reporting Animal Bites).

What the quarantine file records

The County rabies manual describes the confinement rules. County Code section 11.04.210 requires quarantine of at least fourteen days, reduced to ten days for dogs and cats, with release possible after five days where a veterinarian examines the animal on the fifth day or later and certifies that no clinical signs of rabies are present. Section 11.04.220 permits the confinement at the owner's home or in a licensed boarding kennel. Section 11.04.225 sets a fifty-dollar confinement fee, recovered where the bitten person was neither the owner nor the custodian of the animal and was not engaged in illegal activity at the time, and not assessed for police service dogs or guide dogs (quarantine provisions). County Animal Care and Control adds that quarantine is usually ten days and may occur at home, at the agency, or at an approved boarding facility, with the county health officer observing the animal at the start and end of the period (Protecting People).

The dangerous-animal file is a different filing

That second report starts a public-safety process rather than a health one. County Animal Care and Control describes a Dangerous Dog Investigations Unit that investigates reported bites and attacks and may pursue potentially dangerous or vicious declarations, along with a Safe Neighborhoods Program that inspects property for safety. Inside the City of Los Angeles, Municipal Code section 53.34.4 sets out the dangerous-animal procedure and lists eleven categories of evidence the Department may consider, and Los Angeles Animal Services states that reports of dangerous animals should go to the nearest shelter and that an animal may be impounded for observation (Administrative Hearing Guide).

Which agency, and why the address decides

Jurisdiction follows the address where the animal is kept, not the address of the person bitten. City incidents run through Los Angeles Animal Services under the Municipal Code, including the hearing procedure in section 53.18.5. Unincorporated areas and contract cities run through County Animal Care and Control under County Code section 10.37.110, which allows the Director to petition the Superior Court or to serve a petition for an administrative hearing, sets the hearing between five and ten working days after service, provides that there is no jury and the standard is a preponderance, and requires a hearing officer who neither signed the petition nor is junior in rank to the person who did (County Code 10.37.110). The state framework behind both appears at Food and Agricultural Code section 31621, which also permits a city or county to establish its own administrative hearing procedure.

The ordinary City rules that generate paperwork

Routine ordinances often supply the dated detail in a file. Los Angeles Animal Services publishes a summary of important animal laws stating that dogs must be leashed under Municipal Code section 53.06, that a household may keep up to three dogs and three cats under sections 53.00 and 53.50, that tethering a dog for more than three cumulative hours in a twenty-four hour period is unlawful under section 53.70, and that owners must clean up after their animals under section 53.49 (animal laws handout). Animals at large are addressed separately in Municipal Code section 53.34.

Asking for records, and the statute that supports it

Agency files are public records subject to the usual exemptions. Government Code section 7922.530 requires each state or local agency, upon a request that reasonably describes an identifiable record, to make the records promptly available on payment of fees covering direct costs of duplication or an applicable statutory fee, and provides that a requester inspecting a disclosable record on the agency's premises may use the requester's own equipment to photograph or copy it without charge, subject to stated limits. Requests should name the agency, the date, the address and the animal, and should be kept alongside the response.

Why an ordinance violation matters to a report

Where a report documents a violation of a restraint ordinance such as Municipal Code section 53.06.2, Evidence Code section 669 presumes a failure to exercise due care once its four conditions are met. That is a large consequence to hang on whether a responding officer wrote down the leash length.

Scope

General information about published agency guidance, ordinances and statutes. Not legal advice, and not a description of any particular report. Questions belong with the attorney who advertises on this site.