Mandatory microchips up for vote in Crossett
Posted on Monday, March 10, 2008
Like many communities, Crossett has its fair share of stray cats and dogs.
But unlike most, the 5, 679-resident community near the Louisiana border is considering what would be among the strictest pet-identification ordinances in the country: mandatory microchips for all cats and dogs.
It is unclear how many cities mandate microchips for all breeds of companion pets, but the number is probably only about a half-dozen or so nationwide, according to John Snyder of the Humane Society of the United States.
“We’re trying to be proactive here with microchipping our cats and dogs,” Crossett Alderman Candace Jeffress said. “I don’t think we have any more of a problem than any other community. We’re just trying to address some of the issues some of our constituents brought to us, namely stray dogs that are running loose.”
Jeffress, chairman of the city’s Animal Control Committee, said the proposed ordinance will go before the City Council on March 17.
Veterinarians have been microchipping cats and dogs for more than 20 years, and the practice is becoming increasingly popular, according to Snyder, vice president of the national organization’s Companion Animals Division. In the United States, between 5 percent and 7 percent of all companion pets have microchips.
The chip, about the size of a grain of rice, is placed behind the head, between the pet’s shoulder blades.
If the pet gets lost, picked up and taken to a local animal shelter, workers can scan the chip and read its code. The workers then log the code into a database that contains the owner’s information and contact number.
“I think what Crossett is doing is a great idea,” said Dan Bugg, animal services superintendent for Hot Springs. “But like anything that’s new, there are going to be some bumps in the road.”
Bugg writes articles on animal control issues for City & Town magazine, published by the Arkansas Municipal League.
Most animal shelters across the state require microchips for newly adopted cats and dogs, although he knew of no city in Arkansas that mandates it or has proposed mandating it for all cats and dogs, he said.
On Feb. 19, the Little Rock Board of Directors voted to require microchips for all pit bulls.
And last year, El Paso, Texas, passed a law requiring microchips for all cats, dogs and ferrets in the city.
Other cities, including Waco, Texas, and a couple of communities in New Mexico, are proposing similar microchip mandates, according to Dan Knox, director of companion animal operations with AVID Identification Systems, the country’s oldest animal microchip company.
“Microchips save tax dollars otherwise spent transporting, feeding and sheltering stray pets,” Knox said.
The average cost to a municipality to shelter and feed lost pets is $ 150 per animal, he said.
Even with the noted benefits, microchipping has caused concerns among pet owners.
Some people may not want to microchip their pets because they think it’s ungodly or goes against their religious beliefs, Bugg said. The cost — between $ 25 and $ 65 per pet — can be an issue, he also said.
Dr. Scarlette White, a Crossett veterinarian and a member of the city’s Animal Control Committee, said if the ordinance passes, the cost to Crossett residents would be only $ 10- $ 15 per pet.
She said the city has proposed purchasing and registering the chips through AVID, and if bought in bulk (500 to 1, 000 microchips ), the price would be about $ 7 or $ 8 a chip.
White said she would charge an additional dollar to insert the chip and the city would charge residents an extra $ 3 or $ 4, money that would go back into the city’s animal shelter.
Currently, the state mandates annual rabies vaccinations for pets, which cost about $ 10 a year, White said. She added that if the ordinance passes, the city won’t be going door to door to make sure pets have microchips. Instead, if the animal control officer finds a pet, the owner wouldn’t be able to get it back until a microchip is inserted into the animal.
The biggest problem in Crossett, White said, is with residents dumping their pets or letting them go in the city. Other problems include residents who claim someone stole their pet but can’t prove the pet’s identity, something a mandatory microchip would solve.
Jeffress said the city’s Animal Control Committee has been reviewing a new pet ordinance since last year. The city’s current pet ordinance includes a leash law for all dogs but doesn’t require dog tags.
The proposed ordinance, if passed, would give residents six months to have their companion pets microchipped.
“It’s a great idea,” said Robert Freeman, an alderman and also a member of the Animal Control Committee. “It’s a lot easier to do and keep up with than tags on a collar.”
Snyder and Bugg said an animal microchip should not replace a pet tag because residents who find stray animals usually don’t have microchip scanners.
Snyder also said several different companies market microchips with different frequencies and only certain universal scanners can pick up all frequencies.
Within 10-15 years, though, Snyder said all cats and dogs in the United States should be on a standard frequency much like microchipped pets in Europe.
The chips, unless scanned, are benign and do not act as global-positioning systems for pets, according to Julie Lux, a spokesman for HomeAgain Proactive Pet Recovery Network.
The network is a subsidiary of Schering-Plough, a pharmaceutical company that markets and sells pet microchips.
HomeAgain helped recover 124, 298 cats and dogs last year through its microchips, Lux said.
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