Prescott Valley, AZ Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

The Town Code text prints no general microchipping mandate for owners. Microchips appear in the animal chapter in three places, and each one turns on what happens after an animal is impounded.

First, Section 6-01-130(A) sets the holding period for a stray dog or cat at the Town-authorized pound: a minimum of seventy-two hours, or one hundred twenty hours for an animal impounded with a microchip or wearing a license or any other discernible form of owner identification, unless claimed or surrendered by its owner. After the period ends the animal can be made available for adoption, and the adopter pays all adoption fees and complies with the licensing and vaccination provisions as they relate to dogs. Section 6-01-130(C) adds that all reasonable attempts must be made to contact the owner of an impounded dog or cat bearing some form of identification and to advise of the location of the animal and the requirements to reclaim it.

Second, Section 6-01-120(C)(2) allows release of a dog or cat impounded for biting a person if it was previously spayed or neutered before impound or has been spayed or neutered and implanted with a microchip before release from the pound.

Third, Section 6-01-120(F) defines an unowned animal to include any animal subject to licensing found without a tag or microchip identifying its owner. That status matters because subsection F(3) lets the Animal Control Officer destroy an unowned animal injured to the extent that it will unduly suffer before the minimum confinement period ends.

Reclaiming an animal requires the owner or agent to furnish proof of the right to reclaim it and to pay the applicable fees in the Comprehensive Fee Schedule, including impound fees, board fees, a rabies vaccination fee and dog license fees as applicable. Section 6-01-140 bars anyone from removing, or attempting to remove, an impounded animal except under the Article.