Florida Dog Bite Law FirmDog Bite Claims in Hillsborough County
Hillsborough is one of the small number of Florida counties large enough to form a judicial circuit by itself — the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, covering Hillsborough and nothing else.
The reporting path here is not the one people expect
Most Florida counties run a standalone animal services department. Hillsborough does it differently in two ways that matter when you are trying to get a bite on record.
Animal control sits under Code Enforcement. Investigation of dog bites, dangerous animals, and animal ordinance violations runs through the county’s Code Enforcement department rather than a separately branded animal services agency. If you go looking for “Hillsborough animal services” and find a shelter and adoption operation instead, that is why — the enforcement and the sheltering functions are not the same door.
Tampa is served by the county, not by a city department. Unlike some large Florida cities, Tampa does not run its own animal control. A bite inside Tampa city limits is handled by the county. So the answer to “who do I report this to” does not change when you cross the city line, which is the opposite of what most people assume.
Separately, the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County handles rabies risk assessment. That is a different agency with a different file, and a hospital notifying them does not open a county investigation.
The practical upshot: if your only contact after a bite was an emergency room, assume no enforcement report exists and make one yourself. More on the two-agency split.
What to ask when you report
Two specific questions, both of which change a case:
- Does this dog have any prior history or complaints? A prior incident at the same address substantially strengthens a claim.
- Is a sworn affidavit needed to open a classification case? Since 2025 the statute requires one from a person seeking to have a dog declared dangerous, and a classified dangerous dog carries a $100,000 statutory insurance requirement.
Everything else is state law
Section 767.04 makes the owner liable from the first bite everywhere in Florida. Breed-specific ordinances are preempted statewide. The limitations period does not change by county. What is local is the process — and in Hillsborough the process has an unusual shape.