Berkeley, CA Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

084 puts the sterilization obligation on the transferring organization rather than the adopter: no animal shelter, including the City's own, no humane society or humane organization, and no animal rescue group may transfer a dog or cat over six months of age to a new owner or guardian unless the animal has already been spayed or neutered. The only way around that is a licensed veterinarian's certification that the animal either should not be altered for health reasons or is already permanently non-fertile. 082, which separately requires whoever transfers ownership of a licensed dog or cat, including private individuals, to give the new owner a current license, vaccination information, and City spay/neuter program information, and to notify the City of the transfer within 30 days if the animal will stay in Berkeley more than 60 days.

The two sections combine to make it effectively impossible to adopt an intact dog or cat over six months old from a Berkeley shelter, humane group or rescue without a documented medical exemption. 206 addresses the reverse situation, an unaltered impounded animal returned to its own owner, and requires spaying or neutering there too before release, subject to its own hearing and fee process, showing the same policy applied at both the transfer-out and redemption points of the shelter system.