Austin City Council approved a mandate last Thursday requiring pets to be microchipped in Austin. 

The mandate aims to ease Austin animal shelters suffering from overcrowding, according to city documents. A May letter from Jason Garza, deputy chief animal services officer, states the Austin Animal Shelter has been at or over critical capacity multiple times over the past few years, with many animals taken in identified as found pets.

Hilary Routon, a staff member in the University Extension, a remote learning program for those wanting to earn college credit, has volunteered at Austin animal shelters for several years. She said she has witnessed the shelter overcrowded multiple times, to the point where it had to use meeting and lining rooms for animals.  

“We had some times where the dogs were not only within that room, but they were outside,” Routon said. “They had to rent additional spaces, because, obviously they ran out of kennels …  that obviously just takes a bunch of staff time, volunteer time too.” 

The mandate won’t fine or penalize owners if their current pets aren’t microchipped, but will instead heavily encourage them to, according to city documents. It will require health officials to provide owners “with educational materials on microchipping” and directs City Manager T.C. Broadnax to implement public education programs on the benefits of microchipping. 

Civil engineering freshman Luka Alvarez-Scarborough once had his dog admitted to a shelter when she ran off. He said he’s grateful the microchip allowed her to be easily returned. 

“If she wasn’t chipped, she probably would have just stayed in that pound forever,”  Alvarez-Scarborough said. “We probably wouldn’t have found her.” 

The ordinance states the mandate aims to conserve city resources by checking pets for microchips before returning them to their owners through creating more microchip scanners at public facilities, such as Austin public libraries and fire stations.

Routon said the mandate is a step in the right direction, but also believes there are other major underlying issues causing overcrowdedness. 

“It’s a very difficult issue to solve too,” Routon said. “It’s really connected to other societal problems like housing insecurity and economic (stability). … It’s really not just one issue, it’s connected to a lot of different issues.” 

For pet owners who may not have access or time for a veterinarian, however, the city offers free microchipping for all pets alongside spay and neuter programs at the Austin Animal Center from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

“Get your dogs microchipped,” Alvarez-Scarborough said. “I personally don’t know the downsides of that, and it’s free, so there’s no excuse. It’s safer for everyone involved.”