Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee Written evidence submitted by Jolanda Hill DVM, MRCVS

I would like to bring to your attention that microchipping all dogs (and cats) is a good measure, provided that at the time of microchipping the true name and address of the owner is being submitted on the microchip registration. At this time, nobody checks if the details the owner submits to register their pet’s microchip are valid. Especially people who keep animals for the wrong reasons (eg dog fighting etc) would, when microchipping becomes compulsory, avoid all consequences by submitting wrong contact details.

Apart from the initial microchipping registration it is sad to see when we do try to reunite an animal with its owner, how often the contact details relating to the microchip have not been kept up-to-date, thereby almost completely negating the advantage of having a microchip placed in the first place.

If microchipping vets and others have to do more in depth verifying of the submitted details for registering a chip, then I would suggest you prepare ‘best practice’ guidelines on how to implement this.

If we can’t make sure the chip is registered to a valid owner and address, then all efforts and costs to implement this scheme will be wasted.

Quite possibly somebody in the committee had realised this already, in which case apologies for wasting your time.

May 2012