Animal control by state

State-by-state summary

• Alabama: Alabama splits animal control by local jurisdiction.
• Alaska: Alaska does not use one uniform local animal-control model statewide.
• Arizona: Arizona commonly uses county animal care or animal control agencies, especially in larger counties, but the state rabies manual also lists many city and police-run animal-control contacts.
• Arkansas: Arkansas’s official rabies and bite reporting information is centralized through the Arkansas Department of Health, which says mammal bites must be reported immediately.
• California: California places most routine pet and zoonotic-disease oversight at the local county or city level, while the state rabies program sits in the California Department of Public Health’s Veterinary Public Health Section.
• Colorado: Colorado puts bite reporting and rabies follow-up primarily in local public health agencies, with local animal control involved in confinement and enforcement depending on the jurisdiction.
• Connecticut: Connecticut animal control is primarily municipal: towns appoint municipal or regional animal control officers, and the state Department of Agriculture oversees certification, dog law, and related enforcement support.
• Delaware: Delaware is unusual because animal control is mostly state-run through Delaware Animal Services in the Division of Public Health’s Office of Animal Welfare.
• District of Columbia: The District of Columbia does not use counties or towns for animal control; DC Health runs a single citywide animal-services system.
• Florida: Florida’s state wildlife agency tells residents to contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for most injured or orphaned wild animals, while domestic or feral dogs, cats, and horses should go to the nearest humane society, animal services office, or animal control agency.
• Georgia: Georgia’s animal control work is usually handled at the county level by animal services, animal welfare, or animal control programs, though some city services exist for limited functions such as dead-animal pickup.
• Hawaii: Hawaiʻi is different from Florida and Georgia: counties handle most domestic-animal control locally, while the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife directs help for downed native birds and other native wildlife.
• Idaho: Idaho’s local animal-control setup is mixed: cities such as Boise, Nampa, Pocatello, Meridian, Coeur d’Alene, and Idaho Falls publish their own city animal-control or police-animal-services pages, while county services also exist in places such as Canyon County.
• Illinois: Illinois relies heavily on county animal-control agencies for rabies control, bite investigations, registration, and nuisance-animal enforcement, although Chicago runs its own city department.
• Indiana: Indiana splits animal-control work among city or county animal-control departments, shelters, and in some places local law enforcement; county health departments are central to bite reporting.
• Iowa: Iowa splits animal-control authority by jurisdiction rather than using a single statewide model.
• Kansas: Kansas commonly uses city or county animal control based on where you live, and local health departments investigate animal bites and rabies exposures.
• Kentucky: Kentucky animal control is highly local, with city or county animal services offices handling most domestic-animal complaints while rabies response runs through local health departments.
• Louisiana: Louisiana animal control is typically handled locally by parish or city animal control or animal shelter programs, though law enforcement also appears in bite-reporting and quarantine rules.
• Maine: Maine animal control is usually municipal: official city and town pages say each municipality appoints an Animal Control Officer, often working through police or public safety.
• Maryland: Maryland animal control is usually run by counties and some cities through animal services or animal care and control agencies.
• Massachusetts: Massachusetts handles ordinary animal control at the municipal level: each city and town must designate an animal control officer annually, and that officer may be a police officer or constable.
• Michigan: Michigan animal control is usually handled by county animal control or county shelter systems, although Detroit has its own city Animal Care and Control division.
• Minnesota: Minnesota does not use one statewide local-animal-control model: larger cities such as Minneapolis and Saint Paul run city animal control, while some communities rely on local animal control or law enforcement.
• Mississippi: Mississippi’s local animal control setup is split between municipal animal control units in cities and county animal services in some unincorporated areas; DeSoto County’s page explicitly says county staff handle only unincorporated county issues, while cities handle their own calls.
• Missouri: Missouri animal control is commonly handled by city or county animal control/animal services offices, with local law enforcement or the sheriff sometimes covering unincorporated or after-hours calls.
• Montana: Montana’s official guidance points residents first to local animal control officers or the county sheriff for suspected rabies animals, reflecting the state’s mix of city animal control programs and rural law-enforcement response.
• Nebraska: Nebraska law allows counties, cities, and villages to designate an animal control authority or animal control officer.
• Nevada: Nevada generally uses county or city animal control or animal protection agencies designated locally as the animal-control or rabies-control authority.
• New Hampshire: New Hampshire animal control is usually handled at the city or town level, often through the local police department, dog officer, or another locally designated animal-control function.
• New Jersey: New Jersey’s animal control system is primarily municipal: the state health department says Animal Control Officers are contacted through municipal police departments and local health departments, and every municipality must use a licensed impoundment facility.
• New Mexico: New Mexico uses both municipal and county animal control: the state animal-control rule says every municipality and each county must designate an animal control officer.
• New York: New York’s routine animal control is mostly local and municipal rather than sheriff-based statewide: state agriculture guidance says each municipality and city, and each village that issues dog licenses, must appoint a dog control officer, while counties may appoint one.
• North Carolina: North Carolina handles most day-to-day animal control locally, often through county animal services or consolidated city-county programs such as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Animal Care & Control.
• North Dakota: North Dakota’s animal control picture is more decentralized than many states: larger cities often use police community service officers or city animal control, while state guidance also tells residents to report stray, sick, and injured animals to local animal control or law enforcement.
• Ohio: Ohio gives counties a formal dog-control role: county commissioners appoint a county dog warden, so county dog shelters and dog wardens are central for loose and impounded dogs.
• Oklahoma: Oklahoma’s rabies guidance is run through the Oklahoma State Department of Health Acute Disease Service, and the state’s bite instructions tell residents to involve local animal control or the sheriff plus the county health department sanitarian.
• Oregon: Oregon routes rabies and animal-bite work through local public health, with the Oregon Health Authority providing the statewide rabies program and investigative guidance.
• Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania splits animal issues among local agencies for domestic animals, the Pennsylvania Game Commission for wildlife, the Department of Agriculture for domestic-animal rabies matters, and the Department of Health for human exposure questions.
• Rhode Island: Rhode Island does not have functioning county governments, so animal control is handled locally by cities and towns.
• South Carolina: South Carolina uses a mixed local system: counties often run animal services in unincorporated areas, some counties place animal control with the sheriff, and cities may have separate animal control.
• South Dakota: South Dakota relies heavily on city animal control or community service units in larger municipalities, while state law gives sheriffs authority to take possession of animals suspected of being dangerous.
• Tennessee: Tennessee handles animal control locally, with city or county agencies and some contracted local programs doing sheltering, enforcement, bite investigations, and stray intake.
• Texas: Texas animal control is local, but state rabies law requires each county or municipality to have a local rabies control authority.
• Utah: Utah commonly handles animal control at the municipal or county level, with local animal-control officers or police-based units handling pets, strays, nuisance complaints, and many bite reports.
• Vermont: Vermont handles most domestic animal control at the municipal level, not by county animal services.
• Virginia: Virginia animal control is organized by locality: counties and cities must have animal control officers, while towns may do so.
• Washington: Washington animal control is local and varies by jurisdiction, with counties often covering unincorporated areas and some contract cities while larger cities may run their own shelters or control units.
• West Virginia: West Virginia assigns core dog and cat enforcement to county sheriffs under the state rabies and animal-bite protocol, though some larger cities also route local complaints to city or contracted animal-control programs.
• Wisconsin: Wisconsin uses a local-control model: animal complaints are usually handled by city, village, town, or county humane officers or animal-services programs, and where no humane officer is appointed, police or the sheriff may handle the case.
• Wyoming: In Wyoming, domestic-animal control is commonly run by city police, compliance, or community-service animal-control units in larger municipalities, while wildlife calls belong to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.