A new Jefferson City ordinance is being proposed concerning keeping exotic animals as pets.
At the Public Safety Committee meeting Thursday, Assistant City Attorney Jeremy Cover presented a proposed ordinance that would require anyone within city limits who is looking to keep an exotic animal to get the permission of the police chief, as well as any applicable permits from the federal and state level. The proposed bill specifies the police chief must be shown that the animal will not pose a threat to public health or safety.
The proposed ordinance states exotic animals include "large cats, such as cougars, lions, and tigers; wolves, coyotes, and hybrids of each; venomous snakes; and primates, but does not include fish and captive-bred species of common caged birds."
Cover said the proposed ordinance would not include a provision to "grandfather" anyone in who currently has an exotic animal. He did not ask the committee to endorse the bill yet and noted it likely will be brought back next month.
Cover also presented an amendment to an existing bill regulating the number of animals residents can have without requiring a special permit. The current ordinance allows residents to keep up to six dogs or cats within a residential building or unit, but any more requires receiving a permit from the city. Cover said the city has received complaints of people who have more than six dogs or cats on the property, but because the bill is written as keeping the animals within the building, law enforcement can't do anything.
The proposed changes would alter the bill to require a special permit for anyone with more than six dogs or cats on the property, instead of within the building itself.
Cover noted he likely would bring the bill back to committee next month.
In other business, interim Fire Chief Jason Turner said the department is waiting on new bay doors for Fire Station No. 2, noting the bids for the project came in under budget at less than $8,000. In January, Turner told committee members there had been at least two instances where the doors, which are 15 to 20 years old, wouldn't open, posing a serious delay to department response times.
Turner said the doors should be delivered in about two to three weeks, and installation would be on the same day.
Turner also told committee members the department received a grant through the Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation for more than $19,000. The grant requires no matching funds or commitment from the city, and will allow the department to purchase new equipment for confined space and building collapse rescues.