Rock Island County, IL Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

County Code Sec. 008(C) lists microchipping among the redemption fees the county charges, setting it at $15 alongside a $10 daily boarding fee, $25 or $50 impoundment fee depending on license status, and $15 rabies vaccination fee. Sec. 065(E) requires that all stray or at-large animals impounded be scanned for a microchip immediately upon arrival, with the scan result entered into the county's impoundment database along with location of apprehension, license and tag information, species, and the animal's physical condition. Sec. 020(C)(2) directs any veterinarian who immunizes or microchips an animal to provide the Administrator with the immunization certificate and the microchip number if one exists, tying microchip records into the county's rabies vaccination tracking.

Microchipping becomes mandatory, not just fee-based, once a dog is formally declared dangerous or vicious. Under Sec. 050(C)(1)(b), a dog deemed dangerous must be spayed or neutered within 14 days and microchipped if it is not already chipped, at the owner's expense. Sec. 051(D) imposes the same microchip mandate on a dog found vicious by the Circuit Court, requiring the chip within ten days of the finding, again at the owner's cost. Pet shop operators, dealers, kennels, catteries, shelters, and foster homes must also report microchip numbers for every dog or cat they sell, adopt out, or foster under Sec.

004, which functionally means chipped animals moving through commercial or shelter channels get tracked even though chipping a pet you already own and keep at home is not itself mandatory.