In addition to collars with identification tags, another option many people chose to help identify a lost pet is a microchip implantation. In 2021, Hawaii became the first state to MANDATE that owners microchip their pets. With this law, shelters and rescues were required to both scan and implant chips into stray animals in their custody. only nine (9) states and the District of Columbia require animal shelters, animal pounds, or animal control to scan for this microchip. In the few states that have these laws, once the microchip is scanned and the owner is identified, animal control, the animal pound, or the animal shelter must contact and notify the owner. If the owner fails to pick up the pet after a certain amount of days, the animal may be offered for adoption or may be euthanized.
The states that have such provisions are:
- California West's Ann. Cal. Food & Agric. Code § 31108
- District of Columbia DC CODE § 8-1805
- Florida West's F. S. A. § 823.151
- Georgia Ga. Code Ann., § 4-11-5.2
- Hawaii H R S § 143-2.2
- Illinois 510 ILCS 5/10 & 510 ILCS 5/11 & 225 I.L.C.S. 605/3.6(b)
- New Hampshire N.H.Rev.St. § 437.10
- New Jersey N.J.S.A. 4:19-15.32
- New York McKinney's Agriculture and Markets Law § 380
- North Carolina N.C.G.S.A. § 130A-192
- South Carolina Code 1976 § § 47-3-55