(a) “Abandoned/free-roaming homeless/stray/unwanted animal” — A cat or dog with no known owner or not wanted by its owner or that may be deserted by its owner.

Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 16 Sec. 3013F

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • State: means the State of Delaware; and when applied to different parts of the United States, it includes the District of Columbia and the several territories and possessions of the United States. See Delaware Code Title 1 Sec. 302

(b) “Administrator” — Department of Health and Social Services.

(c) “Animal control agency” — Any state, county or municipally authorized animal control agency.

(d) “Animal shelter” — A public or private facility which includes a physical structure that provides temporary or permanent shelter to stray, abandoned, abused, or owner-surrendered animals.

(e) “Cat” — A member of the genus and species known as felis catus.

(f) “Dog” — A member of the genus and species known as canis familiaris.

(g) “Ear-tip” — The removal of approximately a quarter-inch off the tip of the cat’s left ear while the cat is anesthetized.

(h) “Feral cat” — A cat that:

(1) Is born in the wild or is the offspring of an owned or feral cat and which may not be socialized, or

(2) Is a formerly-owned cat that has been abandoned and is no longer socialized.

(i) [Repealed.]

(j) “Free-roaming cat caretaker” — A person who provides shelter, medical care, or food to 1 or more feral or free-roaming cats lacking discernible owner identification, and works to reduce colony numbers by working to spay and neuter the animals within their specific colony or colonies. Free-roaming cat caretakers are not owners.

(k) [Repealed.]

(l) “Owner” — Any person, firm, partnership, association or corporation owning, keeping or harboring a cat, dog or other animal.

(m) “Program” — The mandatory pre-adoption sterilization and rabies inoculation program established by and set forth in this subchapter for cats and dogs.

(n) “Spay/neuter” — To sterilize a female animal by removing the ovaries or to castrate a male animal by removing the testicles or by FDA-approved pharmaceutical sterilization.

75 Del. Laws, c. 326, § ?1; 76 Del. Laws, c. 284, § ?1; 79 Del. Laws, c. 377, § ?2; 81 Del. Laws, c. 450, § 2;