Lord de Mauley, the Minister for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, is backing a Kennel Club microchipping campaign aimed at saving the lives of more than 8,000 dogs every year.
The Kennel Club has said that by microchipping dogs and keeping personal details up to date, thousands of otherwise doomed dogs could be identified and reunited with their owners instead of facing possible destruction in the pound. In addition to this, around 40,000 lost and stray dogs have to be rehomed each year because their owners cannot be found. These dogs could have been reunited with their owners if those owners microchipped their dogs and kept personal details up to date on their database.
The Defra Minister highlighted the importance of microchipping and checking contact details are up to date as part of the Kennel Club’s National Microchipping Month during an event in Old Palace Yard, Westminster. The event launched the new ‘Chip it, Check it’ education campaign intended to inform the public about the change in law from April 2016 and was supported by Members of Parliament and animal welfare organisations.
Regulations due to be laid shortly as secondary regulations under the Animal Welfare Act, will place a requirement on owners to have their dogs microchipped and registered on one of the databases available. Owners will also be expected to be responsible for ensuring the information is kept up to date in order to have the best chance of reuniting them with their pet.
Lord de Mauley (left) said: “When a much loved dog goes missing it is heart-breaking for the owners – a microchip, which takes minutes to insert, can mean the difference between a dog being returned home, or ending up in a rehoming centre where they could be put to sleep. But it is important owners ensure their details are up to date – campaigns such as these help to highlight this and act as a reminder that microchipping will be compulsory in England from April 2016.”
The Kennel Club is dedicated to reuniting dog and owner through its reunification database Petlog, the UK's largest lost and found database for microchipped pets, and holds National Microchipping Month each June to educate those involved with dogs on the benefits of microchipping.
Kennel Club Secretary, Caroline Kisko commented “The introduction of a requirement to permanently identify a dog through compulsory microchipping will go a long way towards improving the current situation surrounding stray dogs by reducing the need for unidentified lost dogs to be rehomed or euthanised. The Kennel Club views regulation as a positive step forward for responsible dog ownership and bringing dogs and owners back together more quickly, and as such thanks the government for their commitment to improving welfare."
National Microchipping Month runs throughout June. For more information go to www.nationalmicrochippingmonth.org.uk
