Barking dog rules in Birmingham, AL — also called nuisance dog, dog noise, or excessive barking ordinances — define when a barking dog becomes a code violation and how complaints are handled.
Birmingham City Code section 11-8-23(2) makes it a noise violation to keep any animal that creates excessive noise across a property line, defining a barking dog as one barking continuously for 10 minutes or intermittently for a half hour or more.
Section 11-8-23(2) of the Birmingham City Code prohibits owning, possessing, harboring or keeping any animal or bird that, by frequent or long-continued howling, barking or squawking, creates excessive and unnecessary noise across a residential or commercial real property line or within a noise sensitive area. The ordinance sets a bright-line test: a 'barking dog' is one that barks, bays, cries, howls or makes other noise continuously and/or incessantly for ten minutes, or barks intermittently for one-half hour or more, in a way that disturbs the comfort or repose of persons of ordinary sensibilities in the vicinity. A 'noise sensitive area' is defined in section 11-8-22 as an area within 500 feet of a school, hospital, nursing home, church, court, or public library. This animal-noise provision supplements Birmingham's separate animal-control ordinances and is enforced as a nuisance.
Animal-noise violations are nuisances charged in Birmingham Municipal Court. Per Birmingham City Code section 1-1-6, the general penalty is a fine up to $500 or imprisonment up to six months, or both.
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