ADCH meeting made of 129 dog & cat charities comes to Guernsey to discuss microchipping & 99% surveyed say yes to make it law
Submitted by Steve on 13:05, 3rd Jul, 2017 |
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This week the GSPCA host animal charities from around the British Isles and Ireland to discuss best practice and challenges to the sector.
The focus of the meeting will be microchipping with leading experts from the sector visiting Guernsey to head a discussion panel to the charity members of the ADCH.
The ADCH (Association of Dogs and Cats Homes) promotes best practice in animal welfare for dogs and cats. The members are dedicated to dog rescue & cat rescue There are some 16 million pet dogs and cats throughout the UK, the vast majority kept by responsible, loving owners. Regrettably however some 250,000 pets come into rescue centres each year where the members endeavour to place them in new caring homes.
In most jurisdictions microchipping is now compulsory for Dogs with the law coming into effect in many parts of the UK in April of last year. Sadly this is not the case in Guernsey and with approximately 10,000 dogs and 10,000 cats in Guernsey and when we find a lost animal trying to find an owner can often be a challenge.
For over the last year the GSPCA have been running an online survey to find out the feelings of the public in Guernsey and of the 316 that have completed it here are the results so far-
Do you think we should have compulsory microchipping for dogs in Guernsey? 99% say yes
Do you think we should have compulsory microchipping for cats in Guernsey? 95% say yes, 2% unsure
Do you think we should have compulsory microchipping for rabbits in Guernsey? 58% yes, 17% unsure
Do you think we should have compulsory microchipping for horses in Guernsey? 72.45% say yes, 12.24% unsure
The GSPCA helps over 150 stray dogs each year and hundreds of stray cats from those killed on the roads to strays found in gardens. Of the strays we see approximately 65% of dogs with a microchip and just over 60% of cats.
It is extremely rare for a rabbit to have a microchip and even less so for a horse which the GSPCA helps nearly 100 stray and unwanted rabbits and help 30 to 50 loose horses each year.
Thankfully by using social media and local knowledge we do find the owner of every stray dog although often instead of taking seconds to scan and find the owners details it can take a day or so in some circumstances.
A very popular issue is that we see only around 50% of dogs with a collar with the correctly engraved tag & relevant details.
With over 200 cats and some years nearly 300 killed on the roads of Guernsey we are often challenged in finding feline owners if their pets aren't microchipped.
Steve Byrne GSPCA Manager said "The ADCH is an organisation striving for best practice and we are very excited to be welcoming dozens of animal charities to Guernsey this week."
"Many are spending time at the GSPCA shadowing the staff, attending our events and spectating our dog training classes."
"The dog and cat charities range from Battersea, Dogs Trust and RSPCA to much smaller organisations like Hope and Rain Rescue and the ADCH is a wonderful organisation where we can all work together for dogs and cats and share best practice."
"The ADCH meet every 3 months and each year a conference is held where over 500 charity delegates meet and learn, share ideas and forge working relationships to help dogs and cats across the British Isles, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Ireland."
"This is the largest ever animal charity meeting in Guernsey and with the focus on microchipping we wanted to share the results of a survey we have been carrying out for the last year."
"It is extremely frustrating when we help a stray animals with no way to easily contact an owner."
"For just £4.99 we can microchip dogs, cats and rabbits at the GSPCA and with all of the local vets also providing a chipping service there isn't an excuse to not get this done to help the GSPCA return your pet safely and promptly if ever they go missing."
"Without doubt the hardest thing we have to deal with nearly on a daily basis is when a cat is killed and it isn't microchipped as it proves extremely difficult to contact an owner."
"With 99% of those surveyed thinking all dog owners should microchip them and 95% of people think cats should be chipped in Guernsey it seems apparent that it would be not also extremely useful for charities like the GSPCA in finding owners of those lost quickly but also the community think it is extremely important."
No bigger than a grain of rice, a pet microchip is a radio-frequency identification transponder made up of just a few components encased within a slender capsule of bioglass, which is used extensively for implants in both humans and animals. Some microchips have anti-migration features to ensure capsules stay in place by bonding with the tissue under the animal’s skin. A microchip’s sole function is to store a unique ID number that is used to retrieve a pet parent’s contact information—it differs from a Global Positioning System, which is used for tracking, and requires a power source such as a battery. When a microchip scanner is passed over the skin of a microchipped pet, the implanted microchip emits an RF (radio frequency) signal. The scanner reads the microchip’s unique ID code. The microchip registry is called, and the registry company uses the ID number to retrieve the pet owner’s contact information from a database.
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