CHAPTER 339

An Act to amend and reenact § 29-188 of the Code of Virginia relating to
when license tax on dogs payable; to amend and reenact §§ 29-194,
29-195 and 29-196 of the Code of Virginia relating to powers of local
governing bodies to prohibit dogs from running at large and to provide
for the control of mad dogs; to amend the Code of Virginia by adding
in Title 29 a chapter numbered 9.1 consisting of sections numbered
29-213.1 through 29-213.4 authorizing the State Health Commissioner
to find and declare the existence of the disease of rabies in certain
counties and cities under certain conditions; to authorize the State
Health Commissioner to adopt and enforce certain rules and regula-
tions relative to the control, reduction and elimination of rabies there-
in; to require dogs to be vaccinated against rabies under certain con-
ditions; to require the production of certain evidence as a requisite to
the licensing of dogs in any such county or city; to provide for the
impoundment, supervision and destruction of certain diseased dogs
and discharge of certain other dogs; and to provide how the costs of
the program shall be defrayed.

[(S 181]
Approved April 2, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 29-188, 29-194, 29-195 and 29-196 of the Code of Virginia be
amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia be amended by
adding in Title 29 a chapter numbered 9.1 consisting of sections numbered
29-213.1 through 29-213.4, the amended and new sections being as follows:

§ 29-188. Any person may obtain dog license by making oral or
written application to the treasurer of the county or city in which such
person resides, accompanied by the amount of the license tax and certificate
of vaccination if any be required under Chapter 9.1 of this Title. The
treasurer or other officer charged with the duty of issuing dog licenses
shall only have authority to license dogs of resident owners or custodians
who reside within the boundary limits of his county or city and may
require information to this effect from any applicant. Upon receipt
of proper application and certificate of vaccination if any be required
under Chapter 9.1 of this Title the treasurer or other officer charged
with the duty of issuing dog licenses shall issue a license receipt for
the amount on which he shall record the name and address of the owner
or custodian, the date of payment, the year for which issued, the serial
number of the tag, whether male, unsexed female, female or kennel, and
deliver the metal license tags or plates herein provided for.

§ 29-194. The governing bodies of the counties, cities and towns of
this State are hereby authorized, in their discretion, to prohibit the run-
ning at large of dogs during such months as they may designate. For the
purpose of this section, a dog shall be deemed to run at large while roam-
ing, running or self-hunting off the property of its owner or custodian and
not under its owner’s or custodian’s immediate control. It shall be the
duty of the game wardens to enforce the provisions of this section, and any
person who after having been notified by any landowner, game warden or
other officer of the law that his dog is running at large, permits his dog to
run at large thereafter, shall be deemed to have violated the provisions of
this section, and shall be liable to a fine of not less than five nor more than
twenty-five dollars for each violation.

§ 29-195. Upon proof that a * rabid dog is at large and has bitten
other * animals, an emergency shall exist and the governing body of any
county, city or town shall have the power to pass an ordinance which shall
become effective immediately upon passage, requiring owners of all dogs
therein to keep the same confined on their premises unless * leased under
restraint of the owner in such a manner that persons or animals will not be
subject to the danger of being bitten thereby *. The governing body of
any county, city or town shall also have the power and authority to pass
ordinances restricting the running at large in their respective jurisdiction
of dogs which have not been inoculated or vaccinated against rabies and to
provide penalties for the violation thereof.

Dogs showing active signs of rabies or suspected of having rabies
shall be confined under competent observation for such a time as may be
necessary to determine a diagnosis. If confinement is impossible or
impracticable, such dog shall be destroyed.

Every person having knowledge of the existence of an animal ap-
parently afflicted with rabies shall report immediately to the local health
department the existence of such animal, the place where seen, the owner’s
name, if known, and the symptoms suggesting rabies.

Any dog bitten by an animal known to be afflicted with rabies shall
be destroyed immediately or confined in a pound, kennel or enclosure ap-
proved by the health department for a period of six months at the expense
of the owner; provided that if the bitten dog has been vaccinated against
rabies within one year, the dog shall be re-vaccinated and confined to the
premises of the owner for thirty days.

At the discretion of the director of a local health department, any
animal which has bitten a person shall be confined under competent obser-
vation for ten days, unless the animal develops active symptoms of rabies
or expires before that time.

§ 29-196. The governing body of any county, city or town may adopt
such ordinances, regulations or other measures as may reasonably be
deemed necessary to prevent the spread within its boundaries of the
disease of rabies, and to regulate and control the running at large within
its boundaries of vicious or destructive dogs, and may provide penalties for
the violation of any such ordinances. Any such ordinance may declare the
existence of an emergency whereupon it shall be in force upon passage.

Chapter 9.1
Control of Rabies.

§ 29-213.1. Whenever the State Health Commissioner is informed
that an outbreak of rabies has occurred in a county or city, he may, after
consulting with the Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration and
the Executive Director of the Commission of Game and Inland Fisheries,
adopt a regulation declaring the existence of rabies in such county or city
and containing such requirements as are hereinafter set forth. Such
regulations shall be be prominently displayed throughout the county or
city and shall be published therein by signs or otherwise to call the atten-
tion of the public to the existence of such outbreak.

§ 29-213.2. When the State Health Commissioner has declared that
an outbreak of rabies exists in a county or city, he may adopt a regulation
requiring all dogs therein to be vaccinated or inoculated against rabies,
with such exceptions as he deems appropriate. Such regulation shall set
forth the persons by whom and the time within which such vaccination or
enoculation may be required. The State Health Commissioner may establish
such clinics and furnish other services and supplies as will enable the
prompt vaccination or inoculation of all dogs in such county or city.

§ 29-213.3. If the governing body of the county or city in which the
outbreak exists does not adopt, under §§ 29-194 through 29-196 of the Code
as amended, ordinances, regulations and measures to prohibit the running
at large of dogs and to prevent the spread of rabies, the State Health
Commissioner is authorized to adopt regulations providing for the matters
contained in such sections and enforce the same in the same manner as if
they had been specifically adopted by the governing body of the county or
city involved, and the provisions of such sections shall apply mutatis
mutandis to the regulations adopted by the Commissioner hereunder.

§ 29-2138.4. The Commissioner shall 2 in so far as practicable, cooperate
with the local governing body and agencies of the county or city involved
to the end that a joint program may be adopted and enforced for the
reduction and elimination of rabies.