Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011

• Act: means the Animal Welfare Act. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Adult: means a person who has attained the age of 18 years. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
• Animal: means every living, sentient creature not a human being. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Animal care facility: means any person that provides care, sustenance, housing, maintenance or other necessary care of an animal and includes, but is not limited to, veterinarians' offices, boarding kennels, equine facilities, animal grooming facilities, animal shelters and animal day care facilities. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Animal control: means control of dogs, cats, domesticated or undomesticated animals which may be a problem in the community and which are not controlled by any other law. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Animal control officer: means the person appointed periodically by municipal officers pursuant to Title 7, chapter 725. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Animal shelter: means a facility that houses animals and operates for the purpose of providing stray, abandoned, abused or owner-surrendered animals with sanctuary or finding the animals temporary or permanent adoptive homes. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• At large: means off the premises of the owner and not under the control of any person whose personal presence and attention would reasonably control the conduct of the dog. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Boarding kennel: means any place, building, tract of land, abode or vehicle in or on which privately owned animals are kept for their owners in return for a fee. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Breeding kennel: means a location where 5 or more adult dogs or cats capable of breeding are kept and some or all of the offspring are offered for sale, sold or exchanged for value or a location where more than 16 dogs or cats raised on the premises are sold to the public in a 12-month period. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Business day: means any day of the calendar year other than a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry or his duly authorized agent. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Constable: means a law enforcement officer appointed by municipal officers pursuant to law. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• 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.
• Dog: means a member of the genus and species known as canis familiaris or any canine, regardless of generation, resulting from the interbreeding of a member of canis familiaris with a wolf hybrid as defined in subsection 30. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Equine facility: means a boarding stable or commercial riding facility. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Humane agent: means an employee of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry who assists in enforcing this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Humane society: means a nonprofit group or organization incorporated for the purpose of providing physical service directly to abused and abandoned animals, improving the conditions of animals, providing education concerning animals or fund-raising to promote animal welfare. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Humanely clean conditions: means that both indoor areas and outdoor enclosures are cleaned on a periodic basis to remove excretions and other waste materials, dirt and trash with sufficient frequency to minimize health hazards and to provide adequately clean living conditions for the species of animal. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Keeper: means a person in possession or control of a dog or other animal. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Kennel: means 5 or more dogs kept in a single location under one ownership for breeding, hunting, show, training, field trials, sledding, competition or exhibition purposes. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Law enforcement officer: means any person who, by virtue of his public employment, is vested by law with a duty to maintain public order, enforce any law of this State establishing a civil violation, prosecute offenders or make arrests for crimes, whether that duty extends to all crimes or is limited to specific crimes. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Livestock: means cattle; equines; sheep; goats; swine; domesticated cervids, fowl and rabbits; members of the family Camelidae, genus lama and genus vicugna; bison; and ratites. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• municipal clerk: means the clerk of a municipality, the deputy clerk or assistant clerk, where directed by the clerk, carrying out the duties of this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Municipal officers: means the mayor and municipal officers or councilors of a city, the members of the select board or councilors of a town and the assessors of a plantation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
• Municipality: means a city, town or plantation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Mutilate: means to injure or disfigure by irreparably damaging body parts. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Owner: means any person, firm, partnership, association or corporation owning, keeping or harboring a dog or other animal. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• 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.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, association or any other legal entity. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Pet shop: means a place or vehicle in or on which any dogs, cats, rodents, reptiles, fish, pet birds, exotic birds or exotic animals not born and raised on those premises are kept for the purpose of sale to the public. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Respective municipality: means , in the case of towns and cities, the municipality where the dog is found or in the case of unorganized townships, the municipality near or adjacent to the unorganized township where the dog is found or the designee of that municipality. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Service dog: means a dog that meets the definition of "service animal" set forth in Title 5, section 4553, subsection 9?E or "assistance animal" set forth in Title 5, section 4553, subsection 1?H. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Service dog kept for breeding purposes: means a male or female dog owned by a nonprofit organization for the purpose of producing puppies to be trained as service dogs and living with a resident of the State. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Service dog kept prior to training: means a dog under 18 months of age, owned by a nonprofit organization for the purpose of training as a service dog and living temporarily with a resident of the State prior to training. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Shelter: means any building or physical structure or part of any building or structure, other than a private dwelling, housing dogs or other animals and not used for agricultural purposes or as a laboratory, research facility, medical facility or educational institution. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
• Town: includes cities and plantations, unless otherwise expressed or implied. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
• Vertebrate: means a subphylum of chordate animals comprising those having a brain enclosed in a skull or cranium and a segmented spinal column, including mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Warrant: means an order of municipal officers directing a police officer, constable, sheriff or animal control officer to enter a complaint and summons against the owners or keepers of unlicensed dogs following notice of and noncompliance with a violation of law. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Well cared for: means that the animal is receiving necessary sustenance, necessary medical attention, proper shelter, protection from the weather and humanely clean conditions and that the animal has not been nor is being injured, overworked, tormented, tortured, abandoned, poisoned, beaten, mutilated or exposed to a poison with the intent that it be taken by the animal. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Wolf hybrid: includes a mammal that is represented by its owner to be a wolf hybrid, coyote hybrid, coydog or any other kind of wild canid hybrid. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 17 Sec. 1011
• Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72