This summer, King County Council unanimously passed an update to King County Code Title 11, which governs Animal Services. The update impacts North Bend residents and neighboring communities located within King County.
A few notable changes include a definitions change, where a “potentially dangerous” animal declaration replaces the “vicious” designation. This keeps much of the current restraint requirements but requires owners to register the animal annually with RASKC.
The more severe classification for incidents where a human or domesticated animal is severely injured or killed by an animal is a dangerous animal. To legally maintain such an animal in the RASKC jurisdiction, the code requires stringent insurance and enhanced restraint requirements to ensure the safety of the community.
In addition, a violation was added for the failure of pet caretakers to remove the feces of their pet from another’s premises and dispose of it appropriately.
With the intent of helping to provide services for potentially dangerous or dangerous animals, new fees have been added or revised, including:
- A new Dangerous Animal annual registration fee of $250.00 (plus pet license),
- A new Potentially Dangerous Animal annual registration fee of $125.00 (plus pet license),
- A new Notice of violation for failure to comply with potentially dangerous animal requirements $250.00,
- A new Notice of violation for failure to comply with dangerous animal requirements of $500.00,
- A revised Transfer fee of an existing valid pet license from the previous jurisdiction to RASKC, revised from $3.00 to $5.00.
These changes went into effect around King County on July 17, 2023. Read the updated ordinance by visiting King County’s Title 11 Animal Care and Control webpage.
