Stonecrest, GA Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

The duty attaches in two circumstances. First, Sec. 5-9 requires a microchip for any owner already convicted, in a court of competent jurisdiction, of animal abandonment, cruelty, or neglect. Second, it requires a microchip for any owner of a 'classified animal,' one a court has declared dangerous or vicious under Sec. 5-10. In the classified-animal track, the chip requirement is folded into the certificate of registration process: Sec. 5-12(b)(1) makes written evidence of a veterinarian-inserted, properly registered microchip a precondition for the annual certificate, due within 30 days of the classification order, a later court deadline, or 30 days after any appeal concludes.

The chip has to be registered with both the manufacturer's chip database and the Stonecrest police department, not just one or the other. Outside these two triggers, ordinary pet owners in Stonecrest are instead covered by the separate rabies-tag and registration system in Sec. 5-17, which requires a current rabies vaccination and a visible tag, not a microchip. The Police Chief and DeKalb County Animal Control enforce compliance under Sec. 5-19, and a classified-animal owner who cannot produce the required certificate of registration, chip proof included, is in violation of Sec. 5-28(d).