New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 8 - HEALTH
Chapter 23A - ANIMAL FACILITY OPERATION; ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER AND ANIMAL CRUELTY INVESTIGATOR CERTIFICATION; PILOT SPAYING AND NEUTERING CLINIC FEES; AND RABIES INOCULATION
Subchapter 1 - SANITARY OPERATION OF KENNELS, PET SHOPS, SHELTERS AND POUNDS
Section 8:23A-1.10 - Holding and receiving of animals

1. Impounded animals must be kept alive for seven days to give opportunity for rabies disease surveillance and opportunity for owners to reclaim.

2. Unowned or surrendered dogs, cats or ferrets which have bitten a human shall be either held for rabies observation for 10 days following the bite or euthanized for laboratory examination for rabies, provided that this shall not affect compliance with 4:19-15.1 6.

3. Other biting animals should be euthanized for rabies examination; if unowned, they shall be euthanized upon recommendations of the State or local health department.

4. The specimen to be submitted for laboratory examination is the head of a small animal such as a dog or cat, the brain of a large animal such as a horse, cow or sheep, or an entire bat. The specimen shall be carefully packaged so as to maintain refrigeration temperatures during delivery and to prevent the leakage of any body fluids to the exterior of the package. The specimen should be delivered by messenger to the State Department of Health and Senior Services Laboratory.

5. Shelters and pounds shall not euthanize animals brought in for elective euthanasia unless the person in charge of the facility has determined the animal is not a stray, and that the person requesting the animal's euthanasia is the owner of the animal or a representative of the owner, and the animal has not bitten a human within 10 days or evidenced other aggressive tendencies compatible with symptoms suspicious of rabies.

6. The person in charge of the facility shall keep a record of evidence submitted in support of (a)6 above for a period of one year.

1. The hours for public access shall be at least two hours each business day Monday through Friday and two hours Saturday or Sunday, excluding legal holidays.

2. The facility shall require a person entering the facility to look at animals or to examine intake records pursuant to (b) above to identify himself or herself by the presentation of a valid form of identification including the following: driver's license, passport, voter registration, green card, school identification, county identification, state identification, or government-issued photo identification.

3. A person who is searching for his or her missing animal shall furnish to the shelter or pound a written description of his or her animal and a license or other proof of ownership, such as a photograph.

4. Persons entering a facility shall abide by all reasonable security measures required by the shelter or pound to prevent the spread of disease.

5. Shelters and pounds shall establish a procedure for the viewing of confined animals during posted hours in a manner that would prevent the transmission of disease.

6. In the case of claimed dogs that are unlicensed, the facility from which the dog is reclaimed shall forward the name and address of the owner, and a description of the dog, within 30 days to the person or agency designated to enforce the licensing of dogs in the municipality of the dog owner's residence.

7. A pound accepting a stray animal found in a municipality not under contract with that facility shall notify, within 48 hours, the animal control officer of the municipality where the animal was found, as to the species, sex, color, breed, and other identifying features of the animal and shall relinquish the animal to the pound of jurisdiction, if so requested by that pound's manager.