RABIES

(a) within the limits of a Municipality, the Mayor of the Municipal Council;

(b) within the limits of an Urban Council or a Town Council, the Chairman of such Council;

(c) outside the limits of a Municipality, Urban Council, or Town Council and within the limits of the administrative district, the Government Agent thereof;

(d) every police officer and every person duly authorized in writing by the Mayor of a Municipal Council, or Chairman of an Urban Council or Town Council, or by the Government Agent to act in his behalf for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Ordinance.

(a) if the dog is not diseased or suspected, it shall be detained in some proper place and be there kept for such period as the local authority may think expedient, provided that where the owner or other person who had charge of the dog is known the local authority shall cause notice to be forthwith given to either of them of the seizure and detention of the dog, and upon receiving payment of the reasonable expenses incurred in respect of such seizure and detention shall deliver the dog to the person noticed or his agent, without prejudice however to the recovery of any penalty for the infringement of any of the provisions of this Ordinance ;

(b) if the dog so seized and detained be not claimed within two days after the notice aforesaid has been served, or, in case no owner or other person is known to be in charge of the dog, within three days of such seizure, or in case of non-payment of the reasonable expenses incurred in respect of such seizure and detention, it shall be competent to the local authority to cause the dog to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of in such manner as the local authority shall deem expedient.

(1) Every owner or other person having under his charge a dog or other animal which is diseased or suspected, or has been bitten by a dog or other animal reasonably suspected, shall cause such dog or animal to be securely tied or otherwise confined, and shall forthwith give notice of the fact of such dog or animal being so diseased, suspected, or bitten, to a police officer of the district wherein the dog or animal so diseased, suspected, or bitten, is or was.

(2) The police officer receiving such notice shall forthwith transmit the information to the local authority specified in (a), (b), and (c) of section 3 of this Ordinance, who shall likewise inform the Director of Health Services and the Government Veterinary Surgeon.

(3) It shall be the duty of every such police officer-

(a) for providing for the muzzling of dogs while in or on any public road or place, with such exemptions (if any) as the local authority may think fit;

(b) for providing for the keeping of dogs under control by the owner or person in charge thereof in such manner as may be prescribed by such regulations;

(c) for providing for the seizure, detention, and disposal, including destruction, of dogs not being kept under control in the manner prescribed by such regulations;

(d) for providing for the recovery by the local authority of the expenses incurred in respect of the detention of any dog seized and detained and disposed of under any such regulations from the owners thereof;

(e) for prohibiting or regulating the holding of shows or exhibitions of dogs, and the exposing of dogs for exhibition or sale thereat,;

(f) for the establishment within the jurisdiction of any such local authority of inoculation stations for the inoculation or testing of dogs or suspected animals and for the regulation, management and control of such, stations;

(g) for the compulsory testing of dogs or suspected animals in order to detect the presence of rabies; for the compulsory preventive inoculation against rabies of dogs or suspected animals; and for the imposition and recovery of fees in respect of such testing or inoculation.

(1) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this Ordinance, where a local authority within the meaning of section 3 (a), (b), or (c) is satisfied that rabies exists, or that there is a danger of rabies within the limits of his jurisdiction, he shall by written notice to be posted in prominent places within the jurisdiction, and by beat of tom-tom, and by such other means, as he shall deem expedient, proclaim the area comprised within the said limits, or any part thereof including one or more villages or estates only, as an area within which rabies exists or within which there is a danger of rabies, as the case may be.

(2) Any dog found in any public place or road, or any place other than a private building, compound, or garden, within any area or part thereof so proclaimed, and not being tied up or led shall be liable to be destroyed forthwith by any person authorized in writing, either generally or specially, by the local authority for that purpose, and the expenses of any such destruction in areas outside the limits of a Municipality, Urban Council, or Town Council, shall be paid from general revenue.

(3) Any such proclamation shall take effect on being proclaimed as provided by subsection (1), and shall be published in a subsequent issue of the Gazette.

(4) Any such proclamation shall expire at the end of six months from the date thereof, but without prejudice to the power of the local authority to issue another proclamation under this section.

(1) If anything is done or omitted to he done in contravention of this Ordinance or of any regulations made by a local authority under section 9 of this Ordinance, the owner of the dog and the person for the time being in charge thereof shall each, according to and in respect of his own acts and defaults, be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees.

(2) Any owner or person knowingly having in his possession a diseased or suspected dog or other animal, or a dog or other animal which has been bitten by a dog or other animal reasonably suspected to be diseased, shall if he fail to give notice of the same to a police officer as required by section 7 of this Ordinance, be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees, or to simple or rigorous imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months, or both.

(3) Every police officer receiving notice as regards a diseased dog shall, if he fail to perform any duty imposed on him by section 7 of this Ordinance, be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees, or to simple or rigorous imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or both.

(4)Every owner of a dog or other animal which is diseased or suspected, or has been bitten by a dog or other animal reasonably suspected to be diseased, who shall permit the same to go at large after being informed or knowing it to be diseased, suspected, or to have been bitten by any dog or animal suspected to be diseased, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees, or to simple or rigorous imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or both.

(5) If a person-

(1) It shall be lawful for the Minister by Order to be published in the Gazette, to prohibit from lime to time, as he may think desirable, the importation into Sri Lanka from any place where he has reason to believe that rabies exists, of dogs, or to order that no dog shall be imported without a licence in writing under the hand of the Principal Collector of Customs containing such conditions as the Principal Collector of Customs may, from time to time, direct to be inserted therein.

(2) The said licence shall bear a stamp of five rupees, which shall be supplied by the person to whom the same is issued :

Provided, however, that all licences issued in respect of such dogs or classes of dogs as may be specified by the Minister by notification in the Gazette, shall be exempted from the requirements of this subsection.

(3) Any person who knowingly imports or attempts to import any dog contrary to the prohibition or order contained in such Order, or who contravenes any condition contained in any such licence, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall be liable on conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred rupees, or in default to simple imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months.

(4) The Minister may, by Order published in the Gazette, extend the provisions of this section, subject to any exceptions and modifications set forth in the said Order, to any other animals by which, in the Minister’s judgment, rabies is liable to be carried.