Residents who find a lost pet in Buellton will soon have a new way to help reunite animals with their owners without taking them to a shelter.
The City of Buellton has approved a pilot program to purchase and install four self-service microchip scanning stations, which will be available to the public 24 hours a day. The stations allow anyone who finds a dog or cat to scan the animal for a microchip and begin the reunification process on the spot.
The effort is part of a broader countywide initiative led by Santa Barbara County Animal Services, in partnership with the Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation, to reduce the number of stray animals entering local shelters.
Sarah Aguilar, Santa Barbara County Animal Services Director, said the foundation secured a grant through the Santa Barbara Foundation to purchase microchip scanners for placement across the county. While the county initially planned to install a single unit in Buellton, city leaders opted to expand access by funding additional stations themselves.
“They determined that they would purchase four units,” Aguilar said.
Under the pilot program, Buellton will pay a total of $1,500 for the four scanners. City officials have already identified locations for three of the stations, with a fourth site still under consideration.
The scanning stations are designed to be simple and accessible. Each includes bilingual instructions and a handheld scanner that reads a pet’s microchip number, but provides no personal information about the owner.
“It just reads a microchip number. It doesn’t read any identifying information,” Aguilar said.
Once scanned, the microchip number can be entered into a national system or shared with a 24-hour call center operated by AKC Reunite, which helps locate the appropriate registry and contact the pet’s owner directly. The finder does not receive the owner’s personal information.
County officials say the program could help address a growing strain on local animal shelters.
“[In 2025] we had almost 6,000 animals enter the shelter, and nearly 4,300 of those were strays,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar said only about 25% of stray animals are currently reunited with their families. She said increasing that rate even modestly could keep hundreds of animals out of shelters each year.
Studies show most lost pets are found within a mile of their home, Aguilar said, and public scanning stations can help reunite animals before transportation, limited shelter hours or other barriers complicate the process.
The county is also installing scanning stations in other communities, including Santa Maria and New Cuyama, and is using stray-animal data to determine future locations.
Animal Services officials encourage pet owners to ensure their microchip registration information is current, noting that the scanners are only effective if contact details are up to date. County shelters offer free microchipping during open hours.
