Baltimore City, Maryland

• Differential licensing charges $10 for a spayed or neutered dog or cat and $30 for an unaltered animal.
• In April 2002, a law was passed that gives animal control the authority to put a microchip implant into animals the first time they are found roaming the streets.
• On the second impoundment, the animal is required to be spayed or neutered at the guardian’s expense.

Sec. 10-309 (c) Impoundment; Conditions for Return to Owners. (1) On a first or subsequent impoundment of a dog or cat, the Commissioner may require that, as a condition for the animal’s return to its owner or keeper: (i) a microchip, containing the information the Commissioner specifies, be surgically implanted in the animal; and (ii) the owner or keeper agree to keep the information current, as directed by the Commissioner. (2) On a second or subsequent impoundment, the Commissioner may require that, as a condition of the animal’s return to its owner or keeper, the animal to be altered. (3) The costs incurred in these procedures must be paid by the owner or keeper when reclaiming the animal.