Tallahassee, FL Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

Section 4-79 governs how an impounded animal gets released back to its owner. Subsection (a) gives the owner six calendar days from impoundment to claim the animal and pay any fees or charges before it becomes eligible for adoption or other disposition. Subsection (d) then adds a permanent-identification condition: every animal reclaimed from the shelter, regardless of why it was impounded, must be implanted with a microchip, and Animal Services can pass the cost of that microchip on to the owner at the time of redemption.

The requirement is not limited to dangerous dogs or repeat offenders; it applies on the first reclaim of any impounded animal. It sits alongside, and is separate from, Section 4-76(a)(3), which lets officers impound any animal required to be inoculated that is not wearing its rabies tag, and Section 4-103(e)(4), which exempts owned cats from the at-large restrictions once they are spayed or neutered and microchipped for permanent identification. Because the microchip mandate attaches at the point of reclaim rather than through a general registration program, an owner whose animal has never been impounded is not separately required by this chapter to microchip it; the obligation is triggered specifically by an impoundment and reclaim.