Animal Services — Indian River County, Florida

Indian River County Animal Control takes animal complaints for every part of the county, including Sebastian and Fellsmere, except addresses inside Vero Beach city limits, where the Vero Beach Police Department answers at 772-978-4600.

The split is set out on the county's Animal Control page, which sends complaints for locations within the county, including Sebastian and Fellsmere, to an online Animal Control Complaint Form (Indian River County Animal Control). The only exclusion the page names is Vero Beach, so the form is the listed route for every other location in the county, including unincorporated areas such as Gifford and Vero Lake Estates.

Wild animals are a different line. The county lists state numbers for them: the FWC Alligator Hotline at 866-392-4286, the Manatee Hotline at 800-342-5367, the FWRI sea turtle line at 727-896-8626 and the Wildlife Law Violation Hotline at 888-404-3922 (Indian River County Animal Control). The same state lines apply on the lagoon shore in Sebastian, in Vero Beach and in the unincorporated county.

Animal Control works from 4305 43rd Avenue, Unit B, in Vero Beach, open Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, and its phone is (772) 226-4799.

Those details come from the county's government facilities map layer, which lists the Animal Control Division with its hours and phone (Indian River County facilities layer). The division is part of the county's Emergency Services department, alongside 911 administration and Indian River County Fire Rescue.

In the county's statement of function, the division exists to enforce local rules on owning, keeping and caring for domestic animals, for public safety and to help prevent animal cruelty (Indian River County Animal Control). In practice that means three duties: receiving, capturing and impounding domestic animals found running or roaming at large, keeping the pet licensing program, and making sure owners follow the vaccination laws. The county page lists a single Animal Control location, 4305 43rd Ave # B in Vero Beach, for the whole county.

One county rulebook applies in the towns as well. Section 302.14 of the county code makes Chapter 302 applicable to all of Indian River County lying within or outside any municipality, unless a city adopts an inconsistent ordinance, in which case the city ordinance prevails (Indian River County Code, Chapter 302).

A one-year pet license from Animal Control in Vero Beach costs $10.00 for a spayed or neutered dog or cat and $20.00 for an intact one, and every license expires on the date the pet's rabies vaccine expires.

Three-year tags cost $25.00 for a sterilized pet and $50.00 for an intact pet, and they are sold at the 43rd Avenue office or online only when the animal has a current three-year vaccine (county Pet Licensing page). To qualify for the lower sterilized rate, the rabies certificate itself must show that the pet is spayed or neutered. The licensing page warns that an invoice is not a rabies certificate and that all sales are final.

For owners in Sebastian, Vero Beach and the rest of the county, the expiry rule has a practical effect. Because the tag runs with the vaccine, a one-year license bought partway through a three-year vaccine expires on the next anniversary of the shot, not a year after purchase (county Pet Licensing page). A new owner has 30 days after taking a pet to license it, licenses cannot pass from one owner to another, and a lost tag can be replaced for $5.00.

There are three ways to buy one. Owners can pay online, mail a current rabies certificate with the fee to Indian River County Animal Control at 4305 43rd Ave #102 in Vero Beach with checks payable to IRC Animal Control, or visit the office lobby Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm (county Pet Licensing page). Card payments carry a $2.00 flat fee up to $70 and a 2.75% fee above that. A pet adopted or sterilized within the current year may qualify for a free first license through the office at 772-226-4799.

Florida law and the Indian River County code both require a rabies shot for dogs, cats and ferrets at four months, and the county code adds a license requirement for dogs and cats at six months.

Under section 828.30 of the Florida Statutes, all dogs, cats and ferrets 4 months of age or older must be vaccinated against rabies by a licensed veterinarian or an authorized person, and the owner must have the animal revaccinated 12 months after the first shot, then on the vaccine maker's schedule (s. 828.30, Florida Statutes). The statute applies the same way in Fellsmere, Orchid and every other Indian River County town.

The county's own code repeats the vaccination age in section 302.03 and sets the licensing age in section 302.04: it is unlawful to keep any dog or cat that has attained an age of six (6) months unless it is licensed (Indian River County Code, Chapter 302). The same section gives the owner thirty days after the pet turns six months to obtain the license. The county's Animal Control Regulations summary page instead says a license is needed for any domestic pet over four months (county Animal Control Regulations page), but the adopted code text in section 302.04 sets six months. Section 302.04 also waives license fees for service animals and for government-owned dogs used for law enforcement, and lets a veterinarian's certification serve as proof that a pet licensed at the sterilized rate is spayed or neutered.

Chapter 302 of the Indian River County Code limits how a dog or cat may be tied out and bars the sale of dogs and cats at flea markets, parks, medians and parking lots across the county.

A pet held only by a tether must be on a line more than ten feet long with swivels at both ends, attached to a pulley or trolley running on a cable that is also more than ten feet long (Indian River County Code, Chapter 302). The trolley must sit at least four and no more than seven feet above ground, and the system must keep the animal on the owner's property. The county Animal Control page posts a summary of this tethering ordinance for owners from Sebastian to Vero Beach.

Pet shops in Indian River County follow an adoption-based model: section 302.15 says no pet shop or pet supply store shall offer dogs or cats unless they came from an animal shelter or an animal rescue organization (Indian River County Code, Chapter 302). Section 302.16, added by Ord. No. 2019-014, bans retail sale of dogs or cats on public thoroughfares and at flea markets, festivals, yard sales, medians, parks, recreation areas, outdoor markets and parking lots, with shelters and rescues exempt.

A county shelter run by a new Animal Services division is planned for 6580 69th Street in Vero Beach, phone (772) 226-4721, and as of October 12, 2026 the county had not announced when it opens.

The county's coming-soon page says Animal Services will run shelter operations: animal intake and care, reunification of lost pets with owners, adoptions, foster care, volunteer programs and coordination with rescue groups (Indian River County Animal Services). Animal Control remains a separate division responsible for field services, enforcing county animal ordinances and answering complaints. Opening date, hours, adoption programs and volunteer details will be posted later, according to the county.

Until the 69th Street shelter opens, residents of Sebastian, Vero Beach and the rest of the county should keep contacting Animal Control for complaints, enforcement matters and strays that need help, and should follow the current procedures for found animals (Indian River County Animal Services). Once it operates, the shelter will take strays found within Indian River County only, and it will help move injured or orphaned wildlife to the Florida Wildlife Hospital when the hospital asks for transport and the finder cannot make the trip.

Programs are still being built. The county says the 69th Street shelter will offer adoption of eligible animals once operational, with available animals and the adoption process posted on the county website, and that volunteer and foster programs are being developed, with applications, orientation and training to be announced (Indian River County Animal Services). Lost-and-found procedures for the new building will also be posted before it begins operations, so until then the county's current procedures for found animals still apply.

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the Indian River County Animal Control and Animal Services web pages.