Yakima County, WA Animal Ordinances: Microchipping (2026)

020(15), and the code uses that identifier in three concrete ways rather than mandating it for every pet. 320. 100(4) requires anyone registering and licensing a dog with the Yakima Humane Society to list the dog's "distinguishing features, markings, tattoos or microchip number," so a chip becomes part of the county's official registration record when the owner has one. 170(2) gives the department authority to require microchipping at the owner's own expense, on top of the enclosure, signage, and leash rules that already apply to that dog's behavior level.

420 requires every kennel to keep, and make available for inspection, current records including the tags, tattoos, or microchip numbers for each dog on the premises, alongside vaccination and acquisition records. None of these provisions requires a chip for an ordinary household pet that has never been impounded or flagged as dangerous, so Yakima County's microchip rule functions as an identification and recovery tool layered onto the registration, impoundment, and dangerous-dog systems rather than a universal mandate.