Rabies ordinance changes approved on first reading

A city ordinance that updates requirements of rabies vaccinations for dogs, cats and hybrid animals was approved on first reading by the McCook City Council Tuesday night.

The revisions are the result of council discussion about the vaccination, when animal control ordinances were recently amended.

Although no major adjustments were made to the existing ordinance, it does change rabies immunization of cats to every three years instead yearly, to match the requirement of dogs.

It also requests the compliance of local veterinarians to supply the city with copies of rabies certificates, so animals the city takes in can be identified with the required shots or as feral animals.

According to background information provided to the council, city staff found that at some point the receipt of rabies certification from local vets stopped, probably at the the time dog licenses were no longer issued by the city.

The suggested effective date of the amended ordinance is Jan. 1, 2010, to allow enough time to notify the veterinarians of the proposed changes and to have them implemented.

Other clarifications include:

dog licensing language has been removed

changing the word from "dogs" to "animals," in the section title that concerns impoundment, with no content change

as with dogs, rabies immunization tag will be required for cats and hybrid animals.