Dogs and cats in Mérida will soon need more than a collar and a name tag. The city plans to require owners to register their pets in a municipal database, with tiny microchips placed under the skin to link each animal to its owner.
The registry is part of Mérida’s updated animal protection rules, the Reglamento Municipal de Fauna. City officials say it will be mandatory and free, although the chip may cost something. And owners who ignore it could face fines.
Raúl Escalante Aguilar, director of the city’s Environment and Animal Welfare Unit, known as Umaba, said the city wants to expand a system it already uses at its animal shelter, the Centro Municipal de Atención Animal, or CEMAA. Dogs and cats adopted there already leave with a microchip.
How the chip works
The chip is inserted under the animal’s skin and carries an ID that connects the pet to its owner’s information in a registry. Unlike a tag or a paper record, it can’t fall off or get lost. It is not a GPS tracker, though. It works only when a vet or shelter scans it.
The city’s goals are simple. When a lost pet turns up, officials want to identify the owner quickly and get the animal home. The registry would also give authorities more to work with when investigating cases of abandonment, a long-running problem in Mérida.
To roll it out, the city plans to sign agreements with specialized companies and organizations and to hold campaigns where owners can get their pets chipped and registered. Officials have also said that responsible owners could receive benefits.
Many details still pending
Key questions remain open. The city has not announced how much the fines will be, when the registry will start, how long owners will have to comply, where the chips will be placed or what paperwork will be needed. Pet owners will need to watch for announcements from the Ayuntamiento, or city hall.
The idea has been in the works for a while. In July 2025, Escalante told Quadratín that the city planned to launch a microchip registry in 2026 that would also hold vaccination records. He said an earlier online pet registry, started under the previous city administration, ran into system problems. Mayor Cecilia Patrón Laviada pushed a similar microchip program when she served in Mexico’s federal Congress, working with about 30 pet-friendly businesses.
The registry is one of several animal welfare moves in Mérida. The city recently joined a global initiative on managing dog and cat populations, and the new rules also spell out penalties for animal cruelty.
Mérida has not announced where owners will get chips under the new registry, who will place them, or what they’ll cost. Officials have only said registration will be free and that they plan agreements with companies and organizations, plus chip campaigns.
What owners can do now
- Adopted pets: Dogs and cats adopted from the city shelter, CEMAA, already go home with a microchip.
- Any vet clinic: Private vets can implant a chip today. The vet injects a chip about the size of a grain of rice under the skin, usually between the shoulder blades. It takes seconds and doesn’t need anesthesia. The chip’s number is then entered in a database along with the owner’s details.
- Travel: If you plan to take the pet abroad, ask for a 15-digit ISO-standard chip, since many countries require that type.
Fast Facts
- What: Mandatory municipal pet registry with microchip ID
- Who: Owners of dogs, cats and other companion animals in Mérida
- Cost to register: Free, according to city officials
- Fines: Planned, amounts not yet announced
- Start date: Not yet announced
- Already in use: CEMAA microchips the dogs and cats it adopts out
With reporting from Por Esto!, Novedades Yucatán and Quadratín