Nassau bolsters animal tethering law, penalties for offenders

Nassau County pet owners face new restrictions on tethering their animals, under an amendment to the county’s existing law signed Monday by County Executive Bruce Blakeman.

The amendment, which passed the county legislature in March, also makes the first and second offenses criminal misdemeanors.

Animal owners already were prohibited from tethering an animal to a stationary object outdoors for more than one hour over a 12-hour period, but now it will also be illegal to do so at all during the hours from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. 

“Some people don't have common sense when it comes to their animals, and we just want to make sure that we are the most animal-friendly county in all of America,” Blakeman said at a signing ceremony in Mineola.

The amendment also prohibits owners from tethering animals outdoors that are under 6 months old, sick or injured, or mothers nursing young offspring. An owner must be on the premises during tethering in all cases, and multiple animals cannot be tethered in such a way that they can touch each other, under the amended law.

Brian Wasserman, chairman of the board of the Nassau County SPCA, said the changes give that agency an additional tool to protect animals.

“These animals can't speak up, they're left outside, they're unattended,” Wasserman said at the ceremony. “To have a tool like this, a tether law, now where we can go out and enforce and really take care of our family members — our pets are our family members.”

The changes bring Nassau’s tethering law closer to Suffolk County’s, which already includes many of the amended provisions.

The amended law creates tougher penalties for offenders. Previously, the law considered the first two offenses to be violations, becoming a misdemeanor on the third offense. The dollar penalties remain the same, rising from $500, then $750 up to $1,000 for repeat offenders, but now a first and second offense can include jail time of up to 15 and 30 days, respectively. Convicted owners now may also lose possession of their animals.

The existing law prohibits tethering when the temperature is below 35 degrees or above 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and the amendment doesn’t change that.

The county law does not supercede the tethering laws of towns, cities or villages. State measures to restrict overnight tethering — most recently an active bill reintroduced in the state Assembly in January — have been introduced for years but have failed to pass.