§ 10-15. Release or disposal of impounded animals.

(a)

The owner shall be entitled to resume possession of any impounded animal, except as provided in sections 10-17 and 10-51, in accordance with Wis. Stats. § 173.13(1), and the owner's compliance with the license provisions of section 10-10 and payment of the impoundment and boarding fees under section 10-16.

(b)

Any animal impounded under the provisions of this section and not reclaimed by its owner within seven days may be humanely destroyed by order of the animal warden, or placed in the custody of some person deemed by the animal warden to be a proper person to own and care for such animal, and who shall agree to comply with all provisions of this chapter; however, if the animal is one for which the respective rights of the owner and the person in possession or custody are determined by statute, such statutes shall prevail over the provisions of this section.

(c)

Nothing in this section shall require the animal warden to keep for any period any animal which is apparently a wild animal native to the county environment and lacking clear indication that it is a domesticated animal (such as a collar, unusual tameness or other characteristic not found in wild animals), nor any animal which the animal warden determines should be promptly destroyed to prevent its suffering, unless such animal shall be quarantined for rabies investigation under section 10-51. An apparently wild animal which the animal warden deems capable of surviving without human support may be released in an appropriate environment outside the village. All other such animals shall be destroyed or placed with an appropriate person licensed by the state to keep such animal.

(Code 1990, § 12.04(7))