Changes to city ordinances that would ban the sale of dogs and cats by retailers and require pet owners to microchip their pets were proposed to the Denton City Council this week.
Nikki Sassenus, the city’s director of animal services, discussed brief details of the proposed changes to the current city ordinance, which hasn’t been updated since November 2020, to address animal health and safety concerns based on public feedback and to meet the industry standard.
Sassenus told city leaders briefly about the details of the proposed ban on retail pet stores selling dogs or cats. An exemption from the ban, though, could be the adoption of animals offered by animal welfare organizations, such as those available at Petco.
When District 4 council member Joe Holland asked Sassenus to clarify the prohibition on pet stores selling pets, she said, “For the health and safety of the community and the animals themselves, we would like to restrict that because most responsible pet stores partner with animal welfare agencies to place animals, dogs and cats through adoptions.”
Sassenus told city leaders that another proposed change would also prohibit the sale or display of live animals on a roadside or public area. An example she gave was selling animals from a Target or Walmart parking lot.
Other notable changes proposed
Sassenus also told city leaders that pet owners within the city would also need to microchip their animals, saying the change would make the city meet industry standards.
She said the city’s use of paper registration is an outdated practice, and the city allows microchipping of all animals upon intake.
This would also allow animal services to offer microchipping services to the public for a nominal fee, to be set by the City Council.
The revised ordinance would also reduce the hold periods for stray animals from 96 hours to 72 hours. Hold periods refer to the time the city animal shelter will wait for an animal to be reclaimed before starting the process for fostering or adoption.
Holland asked about the reduced hours, and Sassenus said this would reduce the overall length of a stray animal’s stay at the shelter and said they have found that most people don’t reclaim the animals.
“We have found that most people who are going to reclaim an animal come within 24 hours,” Sassenus said. ”So we would like to reduce this down to the industry standard of 72 hours, which allows us to reduce the stay time for the animal in the shelter and then get the animal disposition out quickly.”
The proposed revision of the ordinance would also make it unlawful for a person to be the owner of an animal that has been impounded three or more times or that has proven to be at large three or more times.
It would require such pets to be removed from the city limits within 30 days of notification, with an appeal process.
Another section of the ordinance would ban bringing dogs deemed dangerous by other jurisdictions into Denton.
The penalty increase for those who won’t follow the ordinance would also increase from $200 to $500 due to it being a Class C misdemeanor.
Council members suggested having more feedback from animal rights groups and other people before the city proceeds with ordinance changes.