Kauai County, HI Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Kaua'i County Council added mandatory microchipping to the Dog Regulations article by Ordinance No. 1094 in May 2021, rewriting what had been a 1977 licensing and stray-dog article (Ordinance No. 310) into a chip-based identification system. Kaua'i County Code § 22-10.3(a) makes it unlawful for anyone to own a dog older than three months unless the dog carries a microchip, and Subsection (b) requires the owner to have the chip implanted and to register the chip number and the owner's contact information with a microchip registration company.

Owners must keep that registration current: § 22-10.3(c) gives an owner 30 days after any change in contact information to update the registration company, and when a dog changes hands, § 22-10.3(d) requires the former owner to tell the new owner which company holds the registration and gives the new owner 30 days to file updated contact information. The article also reaches shelters and rescues: every animal control contractor and nonprofit rescue organization must implant a microchip in any stray dog in its custody that lacks one, and must activate the registration company's found-pet alert system so registered owners are notified.

The Kaua'i Humane Society, under contract with the County, issues microchips for a $20 fee collected on the Society's behalf and remitted to the Director of Finance quarterly under § 22-10.4. Enforcement runs through officers defined broadly to include police, sheriffs and animal control officers under § 22-10.2, and a dog picked up without a chip triggers both the chip fee and impoundment penalties on redemption under § 22-10.5.