Pender County, NC Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Section 6-8 protects whatever identifying articles an owner has already put on a dog, including collars, tattoos, tags, and microchips, by making it unlawful for anyone to remove or destroy them; violating this section is a Class 3 misdemeanor carrying a fine of no less than $50.00 and not more than $500.00 under the section itself and the chapter-wide penalty in section 6-162. The code does not require an owner to microchip a pet in the first place, unlike the mandatory rabies tag in section 6-61 or the identification tag required for every dog under section 6-7.

On the enforcement side, section 6-94 requires the animal shelter, run by the sheriff's animal control division in coordination with the health department, to post notice of any impoundment for at least 72 hours and to scan every impounded animal for a microchip as soon as it enters the shelter or within 24 hours at the latest, so a chipped pet's owner can be identified and notified of the redemption conditions. If the animal was seized under a search warrant, the owner has 14 days to claim it before ownership is forfeited to animal control; otherwise the general 72-hour redemption window in section 6-95 applies once notice is posted.

Because Pender County has no chip-mandate ordinance, a resident who wants a pet chipped must arrange it through a veterinarian or a county-sponsored clinic rather than under any code requirement.