As real estate agents representing many future homeowners, many of them 'Snowbirds' who will not make Sarasota County their permanent domicile, I wanted to clarify and point out that our four-legged visitors need to be legal when visiting Florida.
The primary reason should be obvious in terms of rabies control, and alerting animal services of who has dogs, in case of discovering one gone astray.
Here is an excerpt from the Animal Control Ordinance that many are oblivious to:
Found in the Sarasota County Code of Ordinances, Chapter 14, Art. II, §14-38
"(7) The registration and tag requirements of this article shall not apply to any Animal that will only remain in the County for a period of 90 days or less and for which the Department has been provided proof of domicile outside the County, a current, valid certificate of Rabies Vaccination, and any applicable registration, required license, or permit required by the laws of the jurisdiction of domicile. This exemption is not intended to apply to those Animals that are born and raised in the County for possible distribution outside the County.
a. The Owner of a newly acquired Dog or cat shall have 30 days to register the Animal and obtain a tag for the Dog or cat. The provision does not excuse the previous Owner from any applicable registration or License Tag requirements. The Person named as the Owner and the address as it appears on the Registration Certificate shall be prima facie evidence of ownership and domicile of the Animal. The Department must be notified within 30 days of any change in the information contained in the Registration Certificate including the address or telephone number"
For the record, service animals are exempt!
So, there you have it, Snowbirds are safe from having to re-license their dogs, until such time that they elect to declare Sarasota County their domicile.
Issue like this are easily overlooked by us and we should know the law to advise our buyers relocating to our cities and towns.
I suggest you update your knowledge base on this subject for your locale.
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