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<br />2 <br />City ordinance § 91.45 provides that the animal control authority shall immediately seize any <br />dangerous dog if: <br /> (A) The owner does not appeal the Police Chief’s order within the appeal period. <br />(B) The dog is not destroyed or permanently removed from the city within 5 calendar <br />days after the City Council has denied an appeal. <br />The ordinance provides that “[p]olice officers or others designated by the City Manager will <br />enforce” the ordinance. St. Anthony Mun. Code § 91.39. It further provides that the animal <br />control authority shall immediately seize any dangerous dog if (1) the appeal period for the <br />designation has passed, or (2) the dog is not destroyed or permanently removed within five <br />calendar days after the City Council has denied an appeal. St. Anthony Mun. Code § 91.45. <br />The St. Anthony dangerous dog ordinance differs from the state dangerous dogs statute and <br />other city ordinances that we reviewed in that it prohibits any keeping of dangerous dogs in <br />the city, rather than allowing them to be kept under strict requirements relating to registration, <br />housing, insurance, and sterilization. To this end, the St. Anthony ordinance provides for the <br />immediate seizure of any dangerous dog if the owner does not appeal the designation, or <br />within five days if the owner’s appeal is denied. As discussed below, the state law provides for <br />immediate seizure of dangerous dogs in some circumstances, but allows them to be present <br />in the jurisdiction if properly registered and kept under the law. <br />III. State Dangerous Dogs Law <br />Minn. Stat. §§ 345.50-565 sets forth a detailed framework for designating and regulating <br />dangerous dogs in Minnesota. Significantly, the statute requires that “Sections 347.50 to <br />347.56 must be enforced by animal control authorities or law enforcement agencies, whether <br />or not these sections have been adopted into local ordinance.” (Emphasis added). <br />A. Definition of Dangerous Dog <br />State law defines a “dangerous dog” as a dog that: <br />1) without provocation, inflicted substantial bodily harm on a human being on public or <br />private property; <br />(2) killed a domestic animal without provocation while off the owner’s property; or <br />(3) been found to be potentially dangerous, and after the owner has notice that the dog <br />is potentially dangerous, the dog aggressively bites, attacks, or endangers the safety <br />of humans or domestic animals. <br />Minn. Stat. § 347.50, subd. 2. There are exemptions from this definition for law enforcement <br />dogs used for police work, Minn. Stat. § 347.51, subd. 4, and a dog cannot be designated as <br />dangerous if the threat or injury it caused was to a person who was trespassing, committing a <br />crime, or provoking or tormenting the dog. Minn. Stat. § 347.51, subd. 5. <br />A “potentially dangerous dog” is any dog that: <br />(1) when unprovoked, inflicts bites on a human or domestic animal on public or private <br />property; <br />(2) when unprovoked, chases or approaches a person, including a person on a bicycle, <br />upon the streets, sidewalks, or any public or private property, other than the dog <br />owner’s property, in an apparent attitude of attack; or <br />(3) has a known propensity, tendency, or disposition to attack unprovoked, causing <br />injury or otherwise threatening the safety of humans or domestic animals