Compulsory Chipping to be introduced in the UK

Not sure if this has been posted already , thought it may be of interest. In the Daily Mail this morning.


Millions of dog owners will have to pay for their pets to be fitted with a microchip as part of a controversial crackdown on the menace of dangerous animals.
Ministers are due to announce on Monday that every newborn puppy should be microchipped in an operation costing around £35.
The chip will contain details of the dog’s owner and address, which will be stored on a central database to which the police and the RSPCA will have access.
The Government insists the plan will make it easier for the police to trace the owners of violent dogs and ensure they can be prosecuted for not keeping them under control.
But there are concerns that the scheme will only hit responsible dog owners, because many breeders of vicious dogs will not obey the law.
So while owners of gentle breeds such as poodles and golden retrievers are likely to dutifully pay up to have the chips installed under the skin, rogue breeders, who tend to produce rottweilers and pitbull terriers, could continue to evade the law.
Critics say the proposal will also be a bureaucratic nightmare, because of the need to maintain a huge database to store the information on the chips.
Under the plans, to be unveiled by the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, only newborn puppies will have to be microchipped.
Some animal welfare groups want to see this gradually extended to cover all of Britain’s eight million dogs.

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Microchip every puppy to tackle dangerous dogs and crackdown on irresponsible owners
The Kennel Club and the Dogs’ Trust are among campaigners welcoming the changes, because they say it will help to return lost dogs to their homes.
Trevor Cooper, a solicitor from www.doglaw.co.uk, said: ‘This is fantastic on welfare grounds.
It will make it much easier to trace the person responsible for a dog, but on the question of whether it will prevent attacks in the first place, this is not a magic wand.
‘A chip will not make a dog less vicious.
‘This is not a solution to the dangerous dog problem.
But hopefully chipping will make the dog owner more responsible.
‘Those who comply most readily with the law are those who will see the benefit of it. But sadly there will always be some people who do not comply with the law.’

Neil Parish MP, with pet labrador Wilberforce, warned new microchipping plans could make life difficult for legitimate dog owners
Neil Parish MP, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Animal Welfare, welcomed the proposals but did have a warning.
‘If we’re not careful we’re going to make things more difficult for legitimate dog owners, and not solve the real problem of dangerous dogs,’ he said.
‘We have got to find the dogs who are being bred illegally by people who mix breeds to create potentially vicious dogs.
'It’s not so much the dogs that should be targeted, but the owners who train them to be vicious that must be targeted.’
He said council officers, environmental health staff and police should have extra powers to search for dogs and ensure potentially dangerous animals are microchipped.Victoria Brown, public affairs manager at the Kennel Club, said councils were spending £57million a year on finding homes for lost dogs because there is no way to return them to their owners.
Although she welcomed the plans, she had some concerns.
‘We are worried that this is being sold by ministers as an issue around dangerous dogs,’ she said.
‘If ministers say these chips will allow us to contact you if your dog does something wrong, then people will be frightened to comply.
‘It should instead be presented as a way to enable people to find their much-loved pet again if they go missing.’
The microchipping plan follows a major increase in the number of dangerous dogs seized, and a rise in attacks on children.
In London alone, police seized 1,512 dogs last year – up from just 27 five years earlier.
In February, peers were told that there were more than seven attacks on guide dogs by other dogs every month.
Lord Taylor, an environment minister, said: ‘We are close to finalising a package of measures to tackle irresponsible dog owners.
‘We see microchipping as part of the measures we can do to address an increasing problem.’

A tiny identity tag microchip for a dog; millions face footing a £35 bill
But Lord Renton of Mount Henry, a former Tory minister, urged the Government to think carefully before insisting on compulsory microchipping because many dogs ‘took badly’ to having a chip inserted.
‘Surely anyone who cannot control their dog should not have one,’ he said.
And Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: ‘My instinct is that it is likely to end up penalising responsible dog owners.
The danger is that you introduce a new tax, and all the bureaucracy that goes with it, on law-abiding dog owners while making no impression on the irresponsible ones.’
Around 58 per cent of owners have already had their dogs microchipped.
The procedure is usually carried out by a vet and involves a chip around the size of a rice grain being implanted under the skin of the dog, between the shoulder blades, using a needle and syringe.
Once in place, it can be read using a hand-held device and updated when the dog is sold or the owner moves home.

Those are expensive microchips! I thought it cost about a tenner to get a dog chipped. I paid £15 9 years ago.

I really don't see how they can police this so it's not going to affect the scum bags and how would they enforce you updating your details when you move?

i think compulsory microchipping is a brilliant idea, if you are a responsible dog owner the chance are you will microchip anyway! my dog already chipped and i paid the grand sum of 11 pounds to chip my beloved cat who doesnt even leave the house!
i dont know where they got £33 from though.......l

It's a good idea in theory but how on earth is it going to be policed/enforced? If tehy're going to make chipping compulsory, they should also make it illegal to purchase a pup who hasn't been chipped.

Setting up the database with that much info would be extremely tedious but once done, should run the same as vehicle registration and road tax systems.

Also, isn't it only a half measure if it only applies to newborn pups? Of course over the following 10-15 years, as those dogs already alive will eventually die, then if the system is put in place proeprly one could suggest that practically every dog in the UK would be chipped.

But again, the responsible owners/breeders would chip their dogs and pay out whereas those who couldn't care less wouldn't bother.

Finally, what about those people who have more than one dog? I think £35 is very expensive to chip a dog. The most I paid for mine was £15! At £35 per chip there will be people who genuinely don't want to break the law but who just cannot afford that sort of cost. Would they be given extra time for chipping their dogs to allow for this?

Also, what would be the punishment for not chipping pups? Will it be up to the breeders to do it? Or the new owners of a pup? If the breeders has a contract with a new owner stating that he owner must chip the pup within a certain time ans the new owner doesn't do that, does the breeder fail in enforcing their own contract? Although once a pup has been sold and is in someone else's ownership, a breeder cannot force that new owner to do anything with the dog.

Like I said, a decent idea initially but I can't see how it will run/work efficiently enough for it to be worthwhile.

My dogs are already chipped, but what a waste of time this unenforceable and unpoliceable law will be.

Hmm, can't see it working tbh - how could it be policed or would there be spot checks? The only people who will comply are the ones who are already responsible owners.

Also, don't see why rotties were singled out and thrust into the topic.

Both ours are chipped, Jake's cost £10 as he was done during the Dogs Trust microchipping roadshow, and Jasper's was £17 at our vets.

yes good point, good idea but in practice i cant see it working unless the police are planning to carry scanners around with them....

Also, what happens if chips migrate? I know Spencer is chipped but his chip is now in his armpit. Obviously I can tell them where to scan now we know but it took the vet a good 10 minutes to find it!

The dog laws we currently have aren't policed and enforced so what are the chances of this one being any different?

I'm in Northern Ireland where it became law on 1st April this year. My dog is chipped and was done at 10 weeks old. It cost me £20. It's also law here to have a dog license and my breeder informed the dog warden that I had purchased a pup hence I had a follow up call from the warden to check if Theo was chipped, licensed and insured. He did not make any comment about the fact that no one in the area picks up after their dogs so I have to carry mine to the park so hes not walking on a carpet of s....

Over here it has been compulsory for years, either Chip or Tattoo and all the info is stored on a central canine register that part of it works well. But the fact that nearly all the dogs that come into the refuge aren't chipped or tattooed just goes to show that an awful lot of people just don't bother. The cost of £35 is well over the top and our chips are put in when pups have their jabs, so no separate consultation fee.