Micro-chipping
Animal Welfare Act 2006

Micro-chipping – Animal Welfare Act 2006 – What does it mean ?

 

What is microchipping

What is microchipping ?

This is one of the measures the Government introduced into the “Animal Welfare Act 2006”, it is one of a number to help tackle the blight of irresponsible dog ownership and improve dog welfare.

From figures gathered from Local Authorities by the Dogs Trust over 100,000 dogs are dumped or lost each year in the UK.

With the introduction of compulsory micro chipping that the Act bring into place, it increases the chances that owners will be reunited with their lost dogs and will also be a major deterrent to dog theft, which over the years has increased dramatically.

Facts and Figures

It should also reduce the horrible practice of puppy farming, as all dogs are required to be micro chipped by the age of 8 weeks, this should also help with reducing the amount of dogs that unfortunately suffer from infectious disease and  inherited defects brought about by being born to a puppy farm dog.

Most importantly dogs that suffer abuse or death at the hands of their owners may now have a better chance at justice, as it will be easier to identify and arrest those who are culpable of animal cruelty.

Dog Rescues such as ours will also benefit from the micro-chipping as it should hopefully reduce the amount of dogs that end up in rescue, with updated details on the dogs chips, dogs should be able to be returned/reunited with their owners a lot more quickly if they have been lost or stolen, though no doubt their will unfortunately still be dogs dumped that either don’t have the correct address details or owners saying that they sold the dog on.

But anything that can help dogs is a big step forward for dogs, owners and rescues alike.

So please ensure that your dog is chipped and up to date 🙂