Last week, members of the Guthrie city council unanimously agreed to amend an ordinance regarding the duty of a driver striking an animal with a motor vehicle.
The addition of the amendment of Ordinance 3295 came after concerns were raised for the well-being of pet animals in the community and to foster responsibility of operators of motor vehicles.
The ordinance requires anyone operating a vehicle, who injures or strikes a pet animal upon public roadways or streets, to give aid to the animal or immediately notify Animal Control or police.
“There is the basic hit-and-run statue, but its arguable about whether or not that addresses animals. There is (now) no ifs, ands or buts,” Police Chief Don Sweger said.
If a driver is found from driving away after striking an animal, a maximum fine of $200 could be issued.
The amendment (Chapter 3, Article 4, Section 3-5) states: Every operator of a self-propelled vehicle upon the ways of this State open to the public shall immediately upon injuring or striking a pet animal shall give aid to such animal or immediately notify the Animal Control Officer or Police Officer, furnishing sufficient facts relative to such injury. Any person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of two hundred dollars.
Full Ordinance
ORDINANCE NO. 3295
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER THREE, ARTICLE ONE, SECTION 3-1 DEFINITIONS AND ADDING CHAPTER 3, ARTICLE 4, SECTION 3-51 DUTY OF DRIVER UPON STRIKING A PET ANIMAL; THIS ORDINANCE PROVIDES FOR SEVERABILITY, REPEALER AND DECLARES AN EMERGENCY.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GUTHRIE, OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1 CHAPTER 3, ARTICLE 1, SECTION 3-1: DEFINITIONS IS AMENDED WITH THE FOLLOWING DEFINITION TO BE ADDED:
“Pet animal” means any animal sold or kept for the purpose of being kept or domesticated as a household pet. Pet animal includes but is not limited to dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, rats, mice, nonpoisonous arachnids, non-poisonous insects, non-venomous snakes and fish.
CHAPTER 3, ARTICLE 4, SECTION 3-51: DUTY OF DRIVER UPON STRIKING A PET ANIMAL TO BE ADDED AS FOLLOWS:
Duty of Driver upon Striking a Pet Animal:
Every operator of a self-propelled vehicle upon the ways of this State open to the public shall immediately upon injuring or striking a pet animal shall give aid to such animal or immediately notify the Animal Control Officer or Police Officer, furnishing sufficient facts relative to such injury. Any person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of two hundred dollars ($200).
SECTION 2: All other provisions of Chapter 3 of the Guthrie Municipal Code not amended by this Ordinance shall remain in full force and affect.
SECTION 3: Any Ordinance in conflict with this Ordinance is repealed.
SECTION 4: For the preservation of the public peace, health, and safety of the citizens of the City of Guthrie, an emergency is hereby declared to exist, whereupon this Ordinance shall be in full force and effect upon its passage and approval.
Passed and approved, and the emergency clause ruled upon separately, this 6th day of September, 2016.
What about the pet owners who allow their pets to run wild?
Exactly. I’m not opposed to stopping and telling someone we ran over their dog. As a dog owner, I would like to know. My question is how far this will go and how long it will last when half the town is waiting for an ambulance of some sort to arrive and mediflight the dog to OU Medical Center. There’s also going to be the question of who’s going to pay for all of this too. If an owner allows their animals to roam the streets, they don’t care about them enough to keep them safe. Wave a “five” or a “twenty” in front of their face and they’re all tears for the camera. It’s going to be a big can of worms before it’s done and that’s unfortunate.
The owner of said pet should be fined for letting it get out! I fill sorry for the 911 operators getting calls every time something gets hit. Sounds to me like a local vet is behind this and looking to profit.
No, it’s not a vet, it is bureaucracy. Though I consider it simply human decency to call animal control is one is suffering, nbut ,if you stop, be ready to face the completely unpredictable situation of a pet owner ready to do ,who knows what, because you ran over their, ROAMING , pet.There are certain individuals , ( Liberal) individuals, on particular boards in this town, or at the very least “Mingling”, with those who are. I would suppose one of these individual had theirs ,or someone they know, pet involved in a ,Hit & Run”, so they, in there anger, and grief , used the influence they have, gained by association; to produce ,LAW. This should not be surprising in a small community,where a SMALL select of individuals , do & have always ran it. WAKE UP. In my opinion this action is the result of the Liberal, mentality, prevalent in this nation today, which focus’ on anything else,besides the real problems at hand. In this case it is domestic animals,next it will be the worms that are killing pecan and walnut trees all over town ,now. This LAW, further degrades the respect of, or accountability too, our fellow human beings by putting focus on something else; in this case ,animals. There is mention of the duties, responsibilities,or fines associated with the LEASH LAWS, Liberals,,go figure. You can’t legislate, morals,decency, HONOR,respect,or accountability.
An owner can be fined for their pets running free. This is basically about notifying PD/animal control that there is an injured or dead animal in the road. No ambulance, no mediflight…stop creating stupidity for the sake of argument.
Not sure what the “argument” is. I don’t beleive has derived by a conviction to simply contact animal control, ( who by they way do a great job) as I have called them many times to collect skunks, and even an armadillo I trapped. However, if one is going to insult others with words such as ,”stupid”, I would ask they not hide behind the anonymity afforded here by a ,first name, or initials only. This is ,freedom of speech, in action, and should be done respectfully. It is a very significant Freedom, up held by our Constitution, we are fortunate to still have in America. It is no place for such demining words,just opinions, posted respectfully please.
bad plan. under the ordinance if I run over a snake, rabbit or goldfish-I am obligated to report it to the police in case it is a pet?
We must stop dumping things on the police. Joe Evans, Guthrie
This is about notifying the owner (if known) or animal control.
Approaching an injured animal, without training, is an excellent way to get yourself injured.
I just think the decent thing to do is to contact the owner or Animal Control. If AC is closed though, GPD takes the call, & unfortunately they do get swamped during certain times Animal Control is off duty. As a pet owner, I would appreciate knowing if my dog got out without my knowledge and then was hit. And I would not be able to sleep at night if I knowingly hit an animal & left it injured or dead in the road without at least trying to notify someone. The new ordinance doesn’t threaten jail time or a public hanging, just a fine if you can’t be decent & call Animal Control. It seems like the right thing to do regardless, but it could also prevent another driver from having a serious accident later if they have to swerve to avoid a dead or injured animal in the road. Don’t worry…this is Guthrie…I am sure when the pet owners are located they will be appropriately fined. Ha!