Richardson, TX Animal Ordinances: Mandatory Spay/Neuter (2026)

Sec. 5-17 governs redemption of impounded animals. Subsection (a) sets the baseline: an owner may reclaim an impounded animal during Richardson Animal Shelter operating hours by showing proof of ownership, photo identification, proof of current vaccination if required, and by paying all impoundment fees plus the cost of fitting and registering a microchip, all to the satisfaction of the animal services manager. Subsection (b) is the targeted spay/neuter trigger: if an impounded dog or cat has not been spayed or neutered and has previously been impounded on two or more occasions, the city may additionally require the animal be spayed or neutered before it is released back to the owner.

The animal control authority carries out the procedure under the auspices of the Richardson Animal Shelter, and the procedure's fee is assessed to the owner and must be paid before the animal is released. This is a conditional, impoundment-triggered rule rather than a blanket mandatory spay/neuter law: an animal that is never impounded, or is impounded once, is not reached by subsection (b). The provision was added as part of the chapter-wide animal-code rewrite in Ord. No. 4507, § 10, adopted August 12, 2024, which restructured Chapter 5's impoundment, cruelty, and trap sections together.