Section 45Part 7 — Nuisances by, and Control of, Animals
Prohibited dogs
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This section applies to any dog of a breed specified, from time to time, for the purposes of this section by regulations made by the Cabinet after consultation with the Director.
No person shall —
breed, or breed from, a dog to which this section applies;
sell or exchange such a dog, or offer, advertise or expose such a dog for sale or exchange;
make or offer to make a gift of such a dog, or advertise or expose such a dog as a gift;
allow such a dog of which that person is the owner or of which that person is for the time being in charge in a public place without being muzzled and kept on a lead; or
abandon such a dog of which that person is the owner or, being the owner or for the time being in charge of such a dog, allow it to stray.
After such day as the Cabinet may by notice published in the Gazette appoint for the purposes of this section, no person shall have any dog to which this section applies in that person's possession or custody except in pursuance of the power of seizure conferred by this Act or unless such dog is registered pursuant to regulations made by the Cabinet.
Subsection (2)(b) and (c) shall not make unlawful anything done with a view to the dog in question being removed from the Islands before the day appointed under subsection (3).
The Cabinet may, by regulations, provide that the prohibition in subsection (2) shall not apply in such cases and subject to compliance with such conditions as are specified in the regulations, and any such provision may take the form of a scheme of exemption containing such arrangements (including provision for the payment of charges or fees) as it thinks appropriate.
A person who contravenes this section commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of four thousand dollars and to imprisonment for six months, except that a person who publishes an advertisement in contravention of subsection (2)(b) or (c) —
shall not, on being convicted, be liable to imprisonment if that person shows that that person published the advertisement to the order of someone else and did not themselves devise it; or
shall not be convicted if, in addition, that person shows that that person did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that it related to a dog to which this section applies.
Regulations under subsection (1) adding dogs of any breed to those to which this section applies may provide that subsections (3) and (4) shall apply in relation to those dogs with the substitution, for the day appointed under subsection (3), of a later day.
Where a court finds a person guilty of an offence under this section, it may also, if it thinks fit, make an order disqualifying the owner for having custody of a dog for such period as is specified in the order.
A person who is disqualified from having custody of an animal by virtue of an order made under subsection (8) may, at any time after the end of the period of one year beginning with the date of the order, apply to the court for a direction terminating the disqualification.
On an application under subsection (9) the court may —
having regard to the applicant's character, the applicant's conduct since the disqualification was imposed and any other circumstances of the case, grant or refuse the application; and
order the applicant to pay all or any part of the costs of the application, and, where an application in respect of the order is refused, no further application in respect of that order shall be made before the end of the period of one year beginning with the date of the refusal.
An officer appointed by the Director may inspect any premises where a dog to which this section applies is being held and any person so appointed under this section may, on producing that person's authority if so required, enter any such premises at all reasonable times and inspect them and any dog found there for the purpose of ascertaining that the provisions of this Act have been complied with.
A person who wilfully obstructs or delays a person in the exercise of that person's power of entry or inspection under this section commits an offence.