West Memphis, Arkansas

2006

This ordinance bans direct-point tethering.

9.04.020 – Animal care.

1. No owner shall fail to provide his animals with sufficient good and wholesome food and water; shelter which provides protection from the weather including four sides with opening, roof and floor; veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering; and with humane care and treatment.
2. No person shall cruelly treat any animal in violation of the laws of the state of Arkansas.
3. No owner of an animal shall abandon such animal.
4. Any person who, as the operator of a motor vehicle, strikes a domestic animal shall, within a reasonable time, report the accident to the appropriate law enforcement agency or to the local humane society.
5. No person shall expose any known poisonous substance or toxic chemical, whether mixed with food or not, so that the same shall be liable to be eaten by any animal; provided that it is not unlawful for a person to expose, on his property, common rat poison mixed only with vegetable substance.
6. Any person owning, possessing or keeping a dog shall keep the dog securely confined behind a fence or otherwise restrained upon the person’s property by adequate means to prevent the dog’s escape; or shall effectively control the dog, whether on or off the person’s property, by means of a leash or other proper method of supervised restraint from which the dog cannot escape.
7. Chaining. Direct-point chaining or tethering of dogs to any object is prohibited.