Burien, WA Animal Ordinances: Breed Restrictions (2026)

Burien Municipal Code § 6.05.300 adopts the King County animal code enforcement sections, including KCC 11.04.290 on vicious animals and corrective action, and then adds a Burien-only subsection (B)(3) at the end of that county section. The addition quoted on this page turns on what the animal did, not on its breed. It names no breed and covers any dog or other animal.

Two events trigger it. The first is severe injury to a human being, without provocation, on public or private property. The second is killing a domestic animal without provocation while the animal is off the owner's property. Once either happens, the animal cannot be kept inside the corporate limits of the City of Burien forty-eight hours after the owner receives written notice from the city's animal control authority. An animal found in violation can be impounded and disposed of as an unredeemed animal, and the owner or keeper has no right to redeem it.

The definitions decide most cases. An animal is provoked if it was being tormented, physically abused or hurt at the time of the incident, or if a reasonable person would conclude it was defending itself, its owner or an immediate family member, or another person nearby from an actual assault, or defending the owner's real property from a crime in progress. An animal is not provoked if the victim is alleged to have provoked it and the victim is less than six years old. Severe injury means broken bones, disfiguring lacerations requiring multiple sutures or cosmetic surgery, or a permanent impairment limiting a major life activity, and it also includes transmittal of an infectious or contagious disease. Injury covers cuts, scrapes, bruises and punctures.

Under BMC 6.05.100 the animal control authority is whoever the city employs or contracts with to enforce Title 6. BMC 6.05.400 sends appeals and licensing determinations to the city's hearing examiner, in accordance with KCC 11.04.270.