Hershey, Pennsylvania — The Derry Township Board of Supervisors voted to authorize township staff to begin drafting a revised ordinance amendment to require outdoor free-roaming pet cats to wear a microchip collar. During discussion, the board cited recent publicized cases of pets being abandoned in the nearby Briarcrest apartment complex, and at a public park in Hummelstown, as well as the need to keep cats spayed and neutered.
Although local volunteers seek to broaden the amendment to include all pets, the township said it is bound by law to restrict the requirement to outdoor free-roaming cats. Township staff suggested the revised ordinance will not require pets to have a permanently implanted chip, but outdoor cats will be required to have a breakaway collar and microchip.
Microchipping has become a tool for local governments, and an effective way to identify lost pets. Pet owners in Las Vegas, Nevada, must microchip their dogs and cats, or they may be fined by the city up to $1,000. In Buffalo, New York, a long lost dog named Snuggles was reunited with its owner after 11 years, thanks to being microchipped.
A local humane society in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, recently installed a microchip lost pet scanner station for public use. Humane Society Marketing Manager Meaghan Pitman told WMBF News, “Micro-chips are one of the most effective ways to reunite lost pets with their families, and by making a scanning station accessible to the public, we are increasing the chances of pets returning home safely.”
However, microchip technology comes with new challenges. British studies have considered the risk of cancer and other adverse reactions of microchips being implanted in pets. They have concluded the risk to pets is very low and is far outweighed by the benefit of getting the pet back if lost.
The permanent closure of Save This Life, a pet microchip company, has prompted alerts for potentially affected pet owners who need to re-register their pets. The American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA), which hosts a Pet Recovery Service registry for companies, including Save This Life, removed the provider from its Microchip Registry Lookup tool in mid-February after receiving reports of failed searches.
Overseas, The New York Times has covered efforts to track and regulate cats in densely populated Singapore, and the story of a long lost Scottish cat has also gained international publicity. A lost cat was found 300 miles away in England, with the help of volunteers at a local cat charity who were able to scan his microchip and reunite him with his family.
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