Do Doctors Have to Report Dog Bites in Illinois?

Yes. Under the Illinois Animal Control Act, doctors do have to report dog bites in Illinois, and so does anyone else who knows a bite occurred. Section 13 of the Act requires notification to the local animal control Administrator within 24 hours of learning about the bite.¹ Physicians and emergency room staff are often the first to find out, because they see the wound, but the statute is not written specifically for them.

The Reporting Duty Is Not Limited to Physicians

Section 13(a-15) applies to “any person” who knows that someone has been bitten by an animal. A treating surgeon, a nurse, a paramedic, a parent, a neighbor who saw the attack, a coworker who heard about it afterward — the obligation is the same.¹ There is no professional carve-out and no “someone else probably reported it” exception in the text.

For clinicians, this means a bite wound presenting in an exam room or ED triggers a reporting clock regardless of whether the patient, the dog’s owner, or law enforcement has already made contact with animal control. If you are not sure anyone has reported it, assume no one has.

How and When to Report

The notification goes to the Administrator of the local animal control program within 24 hours. If the Administrator is not a licensed veterinarian, the report instead goes to the Deputy Administrator.¹ Local animal control is organized at the county level in Illinois, so the contact point depends on where the bite occurred or where the patient is being treated.

The statute does not prescribe a specific form or a required list of data fields for this initial notification. What the law requires is that animal control be told a bite occurred. In practice, that means communicating the basics: that a bite happened, when and where if known, who was bitten, and any information available about the animal and its owner.

What You Are Not Responsible For

The detailed written report most people picture when they think of dog bite paperwork is a separate document, and it is not the treating clinician’s job. That report is produced by the licensed veterinarian who examines the animal during quarantine. It covers the owner’s name and address, the dates of confinement and examination, a description of the dog including species, breed, age, sex, and microchip number, and the animal’s clinical condition and final disposition.¹ A physician’s duty under Section 13 is the 24-hour notification, not the veterinary paperwork.

What the Report Sets in Motion

Once animal control learns of the bite, the biting animal must be confined under veterinary observation for at least 10 days from the date of the bite. The dog cannot be released until a licensed veterinarian has examined it and cleared it. The Administrator has discretion to shorten the confinement period.¹

The owner is required to bring the dog to a licensed veterinarian within 24 hours of the documented bite, at the owner’s expense. At the end of the confinement period the vet re-examines the animal, administers a rabies vaccination if the dog is eligible and not current, and microchips it if that has not already been done.¹

If the dog was current on rabies vaccination at the time of the bite, the Administrator may allow home confinement rather than facility boarding, provided the setup prevents further bites. The 10-day minimum and the final veterinary examination still apply.¹

Follow-Up to the Patient and Physician

The Administrator is required to tell the person who was bitten about the animal’s clinical condition. If the animal is found to have rabies, the Administrator also notifies the victim’s attending physician or the responsible health agency.¹ A treating physician who filed the initial report can therefore expect to hear back only in the rabies-positive scenario; the patient is informed in every case.

Consequences for Not Reporting

Section 13 does not set out a separate penalty aimed at a doctor, nurse, or bystander who fails to make the 24-hour notification. The explicit criminal penalties in the statute are directed at the dog’s owner, for conduct such as concealing the animal, having it euthanized, selling it, giving it away, or disposing of it before a veterinarian has examined and released it, and for refusing to follow the Administrator’s instructions. A first offense is a Class A misdemeanor; a second or subsequent offense is a Class 4 felony. The owner also pays a $25 public safety fine and bears the cost of confinement, examination, vaccination, and microchipping.¹

The absence of a doctor-specific penalty in Section 13 does not make the reporting duty optional. The statute states the obligation in mandatory terms and applies it to any person with knowledge of the bite. A clinician’s safer course, and the one the statute contemplates, is to make the call within 24 hours and document that it was made.

1
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Compiled Statutes 510 ILCS 5/13 – Dog or Other Animal Bites; Observation of Animal