Any person owning, keeping or harboring a dog or cat or maintaining a kennel or commercial kennel who violates any provision of this chapter for the violation of which no other penalty is provided, or any regulation legally made and published for restraining or destroying dogs or cats, shall be fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars or imprisoned not more than thirty days or both. No commercial kennel shall board any dog or cat unless the owner of the dog or cat presents a certificate of vaccination as required by this chapter. Constables, municipal animal control officers, regional animal control officers, the Chief Animal Control Officer, the animal control officers, and all prosecuting officers shall diligently inquire after, and prosecute for, any violation of any provision of this chapter, and the commissioner shall, upon the complaint of any person that such officer is dilatory or negligent in the performance of the officer's duties concerning the enforcement of any such provision, take such action as the officer deems necessary to secure such enforcement.

(1949 Rev., S. 3414; 1953, S. 1852d; 1961, P.A. 517, S. 22; 1963, P.A. 613, S. 33; 1969, P.A. 81, S. 4; P.A. 91-46, S. 8, 12; 91-59, S. 20; 91-131, S. 3, 4; P.A. 98-12, S. 18, 22; P.A. 00-88, S. 2.)

History: 1961 act deleted prosecuting grand jurors from list of those who prosecute violations; 1963 act imposed minimum fine of $25 and raised maximum fine from $25 to $50 and included state warden, deputy state and regional wardens among those who prosecute violations; 1969 act replaced references to wardens with references to canine control officers as necessary; P.A. 91-46 included reference to vaccinations of cats and added a requirement that commercial kennels insure that boarded cats have certificates of vaccination; P.A. 91-59 replaced references to “warden” and “regional canine control officer” with references to “municipal animal control officer” and “regional animal control officer”; P.A. 91-131 added commercial kennels to the scope of violators liable under this section and added a requirement that a certificate of vaccination be presented for the boarding of a dog at a commercial kennel; P.A. 98-12 changed “canine control officer” to “animal control officer”, effective July 1, 1998; P.A. 00-88 increased the fine from a minimum of $25 and a maximum of $50 to a fine of $250 and made technical changes for the purposes of gender neutrality.