On September 18^th, 2020, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill No. 573 into law for the state of California. Effective January 1st, 2021, public animal shelters and animal control agencies, including the Humane Society of Ventura County, will be prohibited from releasing a dog or cat to an owner seeking to reclaim or adopt the animal unless it is or will be microchipped. The microchip must have the current information of the new or present owner acquiring the animal.

If the agency, shelter, or group does not have microchipping capabilities on-site, the agency, shelter, or group must make a good faith effort to locate free or discounted microchipping services and provide that information to the owner. The owner must agree to have the dog or cat microchipped within 30 days of reclaiming or adopting the animal. Proof of the procedure must be provided to the agency, shelter, or group in which the animal came from.

Animals that are medically unfit to be microchipped are exempt from the bill. Owners who sign a form stating the cost of microchipping their dog or cat would impose an economic hardship are also exempt. For more information on this bill, please visit California Legislative Information website.

The HSVC is performing microchipping services by appointment only on Mondays from 10 am - 12 pm and 2 pm - 3:30 pm. If you are in need of this service, please call the shelter at 805-646-6505 to schedule an appointment. If your animal is aggressive with strangers, we ask that you muzzle them prior to arriving at the shelter. Implantation of microchips and entry into our database is $10, with an additional $24.95 fee to register your microchip on your own with BeKindPetFind. Registration is good for your pet’s entire life and registration for each additional pet is $14.95. For more information about microchipping, please visit our website at hsvc.org/microchip.