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14-102. Additional powers.
In addition to the powers granted in section 14-101, cities of the metropolitan class
shall have power by ordinance:
(10) To provide for the prevention of cruelty to children and animals;
(11) To regulate, license, or prohibit the running at large of dogs and other animals within the city as well as in areas within three miles of the corporate limits of the city, to guard against injuries or annoyance from such dogs and other animals, and to authorize the destruction of the dogs and other animals when running at large contrary to the provisions of any ordinance. Any licensing provision shall comply with subsection (2) of section 54-603 for dog guides, hearing aid dogs, and service dogs;
(16) To prohibit and regulate the running at large or the herding or driving of domestic animals, such as hogs, cattle, horses, sheep, goats, fowls, or animals of any kind or description within the corporate limits and provide for the impounding of all animals running at large, herded, or driven contrary to such prohibition; and to provide for the forfeiture and sale of animals impounded to pay the expense of taking up, caring for, and selling such impounded animals, including the cost of advertising and fees of officers;
15-208. Signs and obstructions on streets and public property; traffic and safety
regulations; powers.
A primary city shall have power to prevent and remove all encroachments on streets,
avenues, alleys, and other city property; prevent and punish horseracing, fast driving or
riding in the streets, highways, alleys, bridges or places in the city, and all games,
practices or amusements therein likely to result in damage to any person or property; to
regulate the riding, driving or passing along any street of the city, and to regulate,
prevent and punish the riding, driving or passing of horses, mules, oxen, cattle or teams,
or any vehicle drawn thereby over, upon or across sidewalks; to regulate and prevent the
use of streets, sidewalks, and public grounds for signs, signposts, awnings, telegraph,
telephone or other poles, racks, bulletin boards, and the posting of handbills and
advertisements; to regulate traffic and sales upon the streets; to prohibit and punish
cruelty to animals; to regulate and prevent the moving of buildings through or upon the
streets.
16-210. Streets and sidewalks; use; safety regulations.
A city of the first class may prevent and remove all encroachments into and upon all
sidewalks, streets, avenues, alleys, and other city property, and prevent and punish all
horseracing, fast driving or riding in the streets, highways, alleys, bridges or places in
the city, and all games, practices or amusements therein likely to result in damage to any
person or property. It may regulate, prevent, and punish the operation of vehicles or the
riding, driving or passing of animals over or upon any streets or sidewalks of the city;
regulate and prevent the use of streets, sidewalks, and public grounds for signs, sign
posts, awnings, telegraph, telephone or other poles, racks, bulletin boards, and the
posting of handbills and advertisements; regulate traffic and sale upon the streets,
sidewalks and public places; punish and prohibit cruelty to animals; and regulate and
prevent the moving of buildings through or upon the streets.
17-138. Animals; cruelty, prevention of.
A second-class city shall have power to prohibit and punish cruelty to animals.
28-1008. Terms, defined.
For purposes of sections 28-1008 to 28-1016:
(1) Abandon means to leave any animal for any length of time without making effective provision for its food, water, or other care as is reasonably necessary for the animal's health;
(2) Animal means any vertebrate member of the animal kingdom. The term does not include an uncaptured wild creature;
(3) Cruelly mistreat means to knowingly and intentionally kill, maim, disfigure, torture, beat, mutilate, burn, scald, or otherwise inflict harm upon any animal;
(4) Cruelly neglect means to fail to provide any animal in one's care, whether as owner or custodian, with food, water, or other care as is reasonably necessary for the animal's health;
(5) Humane killing means the destruction of an animal by a method which causes the animal a minimum of pain and suffering;
(6) Law enforcement officer means any member of the Nebraska State Patrol, any county or deputy sheriff, any member of the police force of any city or village, or any other public official authorized by a city or village to enforce state or local animal control laws, rules, regulations, or ordinances; and
(7) Police animal means a horse or dog owned or controlled by the State of Nebraska for the purpose of assisting a Nebraska state trooper in the performance of his or her official enforcement duties.
28-1009. Cruelty to animals; harassment of a police animal; penalty.
(1) A person commits cruelty to animals if he or she abandons, cruelly mistreats, or
cruelly neglects an animal. Cruelty to animals is a Class II misdemeanor for the first
offense and a Class I misdemeanor for any subsequent offense.
(2) A person commits harassment of a police animal if he or she knowingly and intentionally teases or harasses a police animal in order to distract, agitate, or harm the police animal for the purpose of preventing such animal from performing its legitimate official duties. Harassment of a police animal is a Class IV misdemeanor unless the harassment is the proximate cause of the death of the police animal, in which case it is a Class IV felony.
28-1011. Violations; liability for expenses.
(1) In addition to any other sentence given for a violation of section 28- 1009 or
28-1010, the sentencing court may order the defendant to reimburse a public or private
agency for expenses incurred in conjunction with the care, impoundment, or disposal of an
animal involved in the violation of such section. Whenever the court believes that such
reimbursement may be a proper sentence or the prosecuting attorney requests, the court
shall order that the presentence investigation report include documentation regarding the
nature and amount of the expenses incurred. The court may order that reimbursement be made
immediately, in specified installments, or within a specified period of time, not to
exceed five years after the date of judgment.
(2) Even if reimbursement for expenses is not ordered under subsection (1) of this
section, the defendant shall be liable for all expenses incurred by a public or private
agency in conjunction with the care, impoundment, or disposal of an animal. The expenses
shall be a lien upon the animal.
28-1013. Sections; exemptions.
Sections 28-1008 to 28-1016 shall not apply to:
(1) Care or treatment of an animal by a veterinarian licensed under the Nebraska Veterinary Practice Act;
(2) Commonly accepted care or treatment of a police animal by a law enforcement officer in the normal course of his or her duties;
(3) Research activity carried on by any research facility currently meeting the standards of the federal Animal Welfare Act, 7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.;
(4) Commonly accepted practices of hunting, fishing, or trapping;
(5) Commonly accepted practices occurring in conjunction with rodeos, animal racing, or pulling contests;
(6) Humane killing of an animal by the owner or by his or her agent or a veterinarian upon the owner's request;
(7) Commonly accepted practices of animal husbandry with respect to farm animals, including their transport from one location to another and nonnegligent actions taken by personnel or agents of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture or the United States Department of Agriculture in the performance of duties prescribed by law;
(8) Use of reasonable force against an animal, other than a police animal, which is working, including killing, capture, or restraint, if the animal is outside the owned or rented property of its owner or custodian and is injuring or posing an immediate threat to any person or other animal;
(9) Killing of house or garden pests;
(10) Commonly followed practices occurring in conjunction with the slaughter of animals for food or byproducts; and
(11) Commonly accepted animal training practices.
28-1014. Local regulation; authorized.
Any city, village, or county may adopt and promulgate rules, regulations, and ordinances
which are not inconsistent with the provisions of sections 28-1008 to 28-1016 for the
protection of the public, public health, and animals within its jurisdiction.
28-1015. Ownership by child; applicability of penalties.
When an animal is owned by a minor child, the parent of such minor child with whom the
child resides or legal guardian with whom the child resides shall be subject to the
penalties provided under sections 28-1008 to 28-1016 if the animal is abandoned or cruelly
neglected.
28-1016. Game and Parks Commission; Game Law; sections, how construed.
Nothing in sections 28-1008 to 28-1016 shall be construed as amending or changing the
authority of the Game and Parks Commission as established in the Game Law or to prohibit
any conduct authorized or permitted by such law.
Amended in 1997, 1999.
Reviewed by AAHS in September 2001.
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