Delaware Code Title 16. Health and Safety § 3003F. Animal adoption, recovery rehabilitation

(c) Animal recovery. -- (1) Animal shelters shall take appropriate action to ensure that all animals brought to the shelter are checked for all currently acceptable methods of identification, including microchips, identification tags, tattoos, and licenses.

(2) Animal shelters shall maintain updated lists of animals reported lost, and attempt to match these lost reports with animals reported found and animals in the shelter, and shall also post all stray animals on the Internet with sufficient detail to allow them to be recognized and claimed by their owners.

(3) If a possible owner is identified, the animal shelter shall make every reasonable attempt to reunite the animal with its owner.  Upon the owner's or caretaker's initiative of recovery procedures, the animal shelter shall retain custody of the animal for 5 business days to allow for completion of the recovery process.  The owner or custodian of the animal may be held responsible for reasonable housing and boarding costs once the owner or custodian has been notified of the animal's location, provided that the owner or custodian has been advised of such costs prior to the costs being incurred.

(4) All animals adopted out must be microchipped.

(1) Animal shelters may not approve an animal adoption to an individual on the animal abuse offender list.

(2) A pet store that allows for an animal shelter to use the store's premises for the purpose of making animals available for adoption are exempt from requirements of this subsection provided that the pet store does not have an ownership interest in any of the animals that are made available for adoption.