St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana

Sec. 10-648. – Licensing; registration; vaccination and tags.

(a) License required; tag. It shall be the duty of the owner or keeper of every dog, cat and ferret over three months old to register same with the parish department of animal services by the purchase of a license tag. Such license tag shall be dated and indicate the number of the license tag issued for the animal at the time it is vaccinated by a licensed veterinary or licensed veterinary technologist with appropriate anti-rabies vaccine at the owner’s expense. The license tag shall indicate the current calendar year. The license tag shall be fastened to the animal’s collar or harness and worn at all times. The license must be renewed annually and no animal shall be vaccinated without the issuance of a license or licensed without a current rabies vaccination.

(b) Fees. The annual fee for registration, licensing and issuance of tags shall be $8.00 for each sterilized animal and $20.00 for each non-sterilized animal. In the event a license tag is lost, a duplicate tag may be issued for a replacement fee of $1.00 upon presentation of the original license receipt to the issuing agency. Veterinarians collecting such annual fees are entitled to retain $2.00 from the fees collected for each tag issued to defray the administrative costs. At the beginning of each calendar year, the department of animal services shall be authorized to adjust the current fees, which adjustment shall be based on the actual cost to board, sterilize, vaccinate and microchip the animals as demonstrated by the costs incurred during the prior calendar year. The department of animal services shall annually post the current fees on the parish website, as well as in the public waiting area at the shelter.

Sec. 10-649. – Policies and procedures; adoptions; animals in the custody of the department of animal services.

(b) Animals brought to the department of animal services (DAS).

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(3) Adoption procedure. The animal must be free to be adopted (i.e., held the required period or was signed over by the owner) and may be adopted in accordance with the following requirements:

a. All animals must be sterilized, vaccinated and receive a microchip identification prior to the adoption. The department of animal services is authorized to perform the sterilization, vaccination and microchip procedures.

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d. The sterilization requirements do not apply to an animal that is claimed from the releasing agency by a person who already owns the animal.