Apparently the United Kingdom (UK) is getting closer to passing legislation that would require all dogs to be microchipped. This is the first I have heard of this type of legislation anywhere but apparently the idea has been floating around local and state governments in the United States for sometime. Why any of the local or state-level legislation with regards to mandatory microchipping has yet to gain enough support anywhere to pass into law simply astounds me.
I sat and tried to think of one legitimate reason why somebody would be against these laws and could not come up with one. If I am overlooking something, somebody please enlighten me. Aside from the obvious benefit of helping reunite lost pets with their owners there are a lot of other ways microchipping could be exploited to improve animal welfare.
Making microchipping the law could create some accountability that “the system” currently lacks. It could cut down on the number of stray dogs and maybe stimy the ever increasing trade of stolen dogs. No more would people who consistently “lose” their dogs be able to keep going back to the shelter and adopting more. You don’t take care of your pets and let them run lose, okay. Well now when your dogs repeatedly get picked up as strays with no traditional identification animal control can simply scan the microchip and know who the irresponsible party is. Now when you go back to adopt another dog because you “lost” the first one…no more dog for you!
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Tags: dogs · laws · microchip3 Comments
I’m currently researching this with respect to cats, so here’s some of what I have so far:
In the US, there are several different microchips marketed by competing manufacturers (four different frequencies at least). Until, I believe 2006, when Bayer came out with one, there was no universal scanner available to read them. So, if your dog was picked up by a shelter with a scanner that did not read your chip, you and your dog were losers!
So, until some time in 2006 at least (and possibly beyond if your vet didn’t know about this), some vets (my vet included) were recommending against it for that reason. Even now, I understand that not all shelters have the universal scanners, and until they standardize, it may not be the best solution.
Also, as usual, the US “free market” system is such that the ISO standard chip adopted by other countries is still not mandated here in the US. So, not only are we different, but we’re different many times over, making things many times harder to standardize on.
If the government had come out with regulations when this whole thing started and standardized things, a lot more pets would probably be chipped. HSUS has been working on this since 2004 or so, but good luck getting competing companies to agree.
Bayer, of course, had the smart idea to make a scanner that reads multiple frequencies, but I’m not sure that it reads absolutely every chip, and I don’t think we can say that it solves the problem since not all organizations will have that scanner.
HSUS recommends that you find out what chip scanners are being used in your area. That doesn’t help you, though, if you move to a new area and they don’t have that scanner. You’d have to re-chip.
There’s also some talk about safety, including a study reporting chips for humans causing tumors in lab rats. I have not looked yet for any reports of microchipping being linked to dog or cat cancers. But, combine this with the injection site sarcoma fear, and pet owners get nervous about the chip.
So, with vets saying no, and owners saying maybe not, add all this up, and comparatively speaking, not many puppies (or kitties) get chipped in the US.
Kurt,
You bring up a lot of valid points and it sounds like you have done a fair amount of research. I did not know there was an ISO chip currently in-use abroad. As you mention, it would have been the smart thing for the US to introduce some legislation around microchips before we had dozens of manufacturers all producing chips with different frequencies. But since when does the US do the smart thing.
Emma has a Bayer ResQ microchip. Our veterinarian recommended it because Bayer gives the scanners away for free to any animal shelter or veterinarian’s office. Supposedly if your veterinarian or local shelter does not have a Bayer scanner you can call them and they will send one out.
Hi Jeffrey,
I’ve been meaning to get back here with some follow up. Regarding different microchip frequencies, the American Humane Association says that 98% of the chips out there are 125kHz (I’m not sure how that breaks down, so that may be optimistic).
http://www.americanhumane.org/protecting-animals/shelter-professionals/resources/microchip-study.html
Something I would add to this too is that many animal control laws are local. This presents its own challenges. I did discover that Miami, FL requires those who sell pets to have them chipped…
http://www.miamidade.gov/animals/pet_laws.asp
“If you sell pets, they must be microchipped and registered to the new owner and must be sold with an original official certificate of veterinary inspection. (Section 5-10)”
If you dig into the local laws in other areas, you may find similar requirements.