In Parma, Ohio, it is prohibited to own, harbor, or keep a pit bull. Licensed pet shops, menageries, zoological gardens and circuses are exempt if the location conforms to the provisions of the City Zoning Code, all animals and animal quarters are kept in a clean and sanitary condition, animals are maintained in quarters so constructed as to prevent their escape, and no person resides within 50 feet of the quarters in which the animals are kept. However, pit bulls may not be brought into City limits.
618.01 DEFINITIONS.
618.09 PROHIBITED ANIMALS.
. . .
(z) “Pit Bull Dog” includes the American Pit Bull Terrier, as recognized by the United Kennel Club, and the American Staffordshire Terrier, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier and the Bull Terrier, as recognized by the American Kennel Club, and any mixed breed of dog which contains as an element of its breeding any of the breeds described.
(a) The owning, keeping or harboring of any wild, dangerous, poisonous or exotic animal, including, but not limited to the animals listed below, is hereby prohibited within the City limits.
(1) All crotalid, elapid and venomous colubroid snakes;
(2) Apes: chimpanzees (Pan); gibbons (Hylobates); gorillas (Gorilla); orangutans (Pongo); and siamangs (Symphalangus);
(3) Baboons (Papoi, Mandrillus);
(4) Bears (Ursidae);
(5) Bison (Bison);
(6) Cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus);
(7) Crocodilians (Crocodilia) when 72 inches in length or more;
(8) Constrictor snakes when 14 feet in length or more;
(9) Coyotes (Canis latrans);
(10) Deer (Cervidae), including all members of the deer family, for example, white-tailed deer, elk, antelope and moose;
(11) Elephants (Elephas and Loxodonta);
(12) Foxes (Canis vulpes);
(13) Game cocks and other fighting birds;
(14) Hippopotami (Hippopotamidae);
(15) Hyenas (Hyaenidae);
(16) Jaguars (Panthera onca);
(17) Leopards (Panthera pardus);
(18) Lions (Pantheraleo);
(19) Lynxes (Lynx);
(20) Monkeys, old world (Cercopithecidae);
(21) Ostriches (Struthio);
(22) Piranha fish (Characidae);
(23) Pumas (Felis concolar), also known as cougars, mountain lions and panthers;
(24) Rhinoceroses (Rhinocero tidae);
(25) Sharks (class Chondrichthyes);
(26) Snow leopards (Panthera uncia);
(27) Swine (Suidae);
(28) Tigers (Panthera tigris);
(29) Wolves (Canis lupus); and
(30) Wolf hybrids or any hybrid of a domestic dog with a wild canis.
(b) The owning or keeping of any fowl, including, but not limited to domestic geese, ducks, turkeys, and chickens within the City limits is hereby prohibited. However:
(1) Schools are not prohibited from raising chicks and/or ducks for educational purposes; and
(2) When finished or no later than two weeks after the chicks and/or ducks have hatched, the schools must give the fowl to a farm authorized to handle such animals.
(c) The owning, harboring, or keeping of a pit bull within City limits is prohibited.
(d) No livestock, including, but not limited to horses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats and swine shall be owned or maintained within the City limits.
(e) Licensed pet shops, menageries, zoological gardens and circuses shall be exempt from the provisions of division (a) of this section if all of the following conditions are applicable:
(1) The location conforms to the provisions of the City Zoning Code.
(2) All animals and animal quarters are kept in a clean and sanitary condition and maintained so as to eliminate objectionable odors.
(3) Animals are maintained in quarters so constructed as to prevent their escape.
(4) No person resides within 50 feet of the quarters in which the animals are kept.
(5) Pit Bulls are not brought into City limits.
(f) The Stearns Homestead, located at Permanent Parcel 450-18-1, and currently operated by the Parma Historical Society, is hereby exempted from the restrictions of this section to the extent that it keeps and maintains horses, mules, cattle, sheep, goats, swine, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, geese and other similar types of animals or fowl generally considered to be farm animals for purposes of public display.
(g) No exemption granted pursuant to any division of this section shall be construed, nor is it intended by the City as a guaranty or warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, to any person, including, without limitation, the general public, persons residing or passing near the applicant's premises or the applicant, either in general or individually, as to the danger of persons residing or passing near the applicant's premises or the applicant, either in general or individually, as to the danger or lack thereof, or degree of risk to health or safety, of any animal, specifically or generally, or of any premises where any animal is maintained or kept pursuant to such exemption.
(h) The lack of knowledge of intent is not a defense to a violation of this section.
(i) Whoever violates division (c) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.
(j) Whoever violates or fails to comply with any of the other provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree. A separate offense shall be deemed committed each day during or on which a violation or noncompliance occurs or continues.
(Ord. 45-06. Passed 11-20-06; Ord. 35-10. Passed 3-15-10)