A. Any dangerous dog shall be immediately confiscated by Everett animal control if the:

B. The owner must pay the costs of confinement and control to Everett animal control if the dog is confiscated. Everett animal control must serve notice upon the dog owner in person or by regular and certified mail, return receipt requested, specifying the reason for the confiscation of the dangerous dog, that the owner is responsible for payment of the costs of confinement and control, and that the dog will be destroyed in an expeditious and humane manner if the deficiencies for which the dog was confiscated are not corrected within twenty days. The animal control authority shall destroy the confiscated dangerous dog in an expeditious and humane manner if any deficiencies required by this subsection are not corrected within twenty days of notification. In addition, the owner shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor punishable in accordance with EMC 6.08.050.

C. Under circumstances not rising to severe injury or death under subsection (E) of this section, if a potentially dangerous dog of an owner with a prior criminal conviction under this chapter or Chapter 16.08 RCW, or prior violation of EMC 6.04.070(B)(7), attacks or bites a person or another domestic animal, the dog’s owner is guilty of a gross misdemeanor. It is an affirmative defense that the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she was in compliance with the requirements for ownership of a potentially dangerous dog pursuant to this chapter or Chapter 16.08 RCW and the person or domestic animal attacked or bitten by the defendant’s dog trespassed on the defendant’s real or personal property or provoked the defendant’s dog without justification or excuse. In addition, the potentially dangerous dog may be immediately confiscated by an animal control authority and impounded pursuant to EMC 6.04.090.

D. If a dangerous dog of an owner with a prior conviction under this chapter or Chapter 16.08 RCW, or prior violation of EMC 6.04.070(B)(7), attacks or bites a person or another domestic animal, the dog’s owner is guilty of a Class C felony, punishable in accordance with RCW 9A.20.021. It is an affirmative defense that the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she was in compliance with the requirements for ownership of a dangerous dog pursuant to this chapter or Chapter 16.08 RCW and the person or domestic animal attacked or bitten by the defendant’s dog trespassed on the defendant’s real or personal property or provoked the defendant’s dog without justification or excuse. In addition, the dangerous dog shall be immediately confiscated by an animal control authority, placed in quarantine for the proper length of time, and thereafter destroyed in an expeditious and humane manner.

E. The owner of any dog that aggressively attacks and causes severe injury or death of any human, whether the dog has previously been declared potentially dangerous or dangerous, shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a Class C felony punishable in accordance with RCW 9A.20.021. It is an affirmative defense that the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the human severely injured or killed by the defendant’s dog: (1) trespassed on the defendant’s real or personal property which was enclosed by fencing suitable to prevent the entry of young children and designed to prevent the dog from escaping and marked with clearly visible signs warning people, including children, not to trespass and to beware of the dog; or (2) provoked the defendant’s dog without justification or excuse on the defendant’s real or personal property which was enclosed by fencing suitable to prevent the entry of young children and designed to prevent the dog from escaping and marked with clearly visible signs warning people, including children, not to trespass and to beware of the dog. In such a prosecution, the state has the burden of showing that the owner of the dog either knew or should have known that the dog was potentially dangerous as defined in this chapter or Chapter 16.08 RCW. The state may not meet its burden of proof that the owner should have known the dog was potentially dangerous solely by showing the dog to be a particular breed or breeds. In addition, the dog shall be immediately confiscated by an animal control authority, quarantined, and upon conviction of the owner destroyed in an expeditious and humane manner.

F. Any potentially dangerous dog or dangerous dog may be immediately seized and impounded by Everett animal control if an Everett animal control officer has probable cause to believe that the owner has failed to comply with the conditions or restrictions of this chapter or imposed by the animal control authority. Such impoundment shall be subject to the procedures of EMC 6.04.090. (Ord. 3984-23 § 3, 2023; Ord. 3705-19 § 8, 2019; Ord. 2782-04 § 5, 2004; Ord. 2393-99 § 9, 1999.)