Amarillo, TX Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Section 8-2-1 defines a Microchip as a passive electronic device injected under the skin, carrying a unique number readable by a scanner, and normally paired with a collar tag warning that the animal is chipped. 00 in labor plus the market cost of the chip itself, billed to the owner, transferee or adopter at redemption. The mandate in Section 8-2-54(b) is a gate, not a standalone offense: a dog, cat or other domestic or miniature animal older than three months simply cannot leave the Animal Management and Welfare shelter, whether going back to its owner, to a new owner, or to a rescue partner, until it has been chipped and vaccinated, and a male miniature pig has had its tusks removed.

A Dangerous Animal carries a separate, permanent version of the same requirement: Section 8-2-10(a)(8) makes the owner implant a microchip compatible with the department's scanners and register it for life with both the City and a national registry before the animal is released and continuously afterward. Community Cats enrolled in the City's Trap, Neuter and Return program get a narrower rule: their chip is registered to the zip code territory where the colony lives rather than to an individual owner, and the usual collar-tag requirement is waived for them.