ANIMAL IDENTIFICATION – Microchips Provide Security for your Animals
Whether or not you agree our planet is undergoing global warming, it does
seem that all over the world the number and severity of natural disasters
has increased. The chance that we will have to plan for disasters that
could require placing our animals in centralized facilities while we leave
our homes for the duration of the event has increased. Hopefully we
all have homes to return to, and then we can be concerned with reclaiming
our animals.
We are all positive
that we can identify our horse, dog, and other livestock, however, think about this:
your horse is a bay gelding, 15.3 hands, no markings. Your dog is a female
black Lab, medium size, no white markings. How easily could you identify your
own horse if he was placed in a temporary facility and was one of fifty bay geldings,
15.3 hands, no markings? Could you count on your horse to recognize you? What
if you only owned the horse for a week?
Try to find your
dog in a temporary facility where all the dogs are in portable kennels, yapping loudly,
and they are all medium size female black labs with no white markings. Unless
your dog recognizes you and starts jumping around hysterically (as dogs do) and barking
louder than her neighbors, you might have trouble recognizing her.
Even if, in the
above examples, you have signed your horse or dog in at the evacuation shelter and
your best pal has been given a neckband or collar with your name and contact information,
the only sure way to claim ownership is by having your animal permanently identifiable. Personnel
in temporary facilities have to be vigilant because emergency shelters can lure predators
such as Class B dog dealers or horse thieves. Fortunately, most disasters bring
out the best in people, and the shelter workers certainly rank very high in that
respect. The very fact that so many animals are reunited with their owners
is proof of how efficient and how caring shelter workers are.
Many people who
never take their horses off the farm for showing or trail rides don’t think they
need permanent identification for their horses, but sometimes the disaster can show
up right in your own pasture. Imagine that rock plummeting in your stomach
should you look out at your pasture and your horse isn’t there because sometime during
the night it’s been stolen.
There are a number
of ways to permanently identify your animals, but I’m going to concentrate here on
microchips because implanting a microchip in your animal can be the means by which
your animal can be returned to you no matter where that animal is finally located.
Microchips are
about the size of a grain of rice and are easily implanted under the skin by
your veterinarian while he or she is making a farm call, or if you are comfortable
with giving your animals injections, you can implant the microchip yourself. The
microchip has an identification number registered to you that when scanned, provides,
through the number, your contact information. Microchips have become a leading
means of pet identification and scanners are routinely used by veterinary clinics,
humane societies, rescue organizations, and for horses, at auction sales. And
they work! There are numerous reports of animals being reunited with their
owner years after being lost or stolen because they had microchips implanted and
someone scanned the animal for information. Microchips have proven to be life
savers when it comes to animals thought to be strays who are brought into shelters. A
routine scanning can easily locate an owner and keep a pet from being euthanized. A
stolen horse who is consigned to an auction may be saved a horrendous trip to a slaughterhouse
in Mexico or Canada by means of scanning for a microchip.
The cost for a
microchip runs between $35 to $50 with an additional fee for regitering the identification
number. If you are adopting an animal, you may find that the organization from
which you are adopting has already implanted a microchip in your new family member. Alley
Cat Rescue (www.saveacat.org) is one of a
rapidly growing number of associations who have such a policy. You may even
find an animal you purchase from an individual has already had a microchip implanted.
The only cause
for concern about microchips is that in a few instances, tumors have formed near
the implantation site, although no link between microchips and tumors have been established. In
some instances inflammation may occur at the implantation site, but that usually
disappears in a few months. The possibility of either of these events occurring
should not stop you from using microchips, considering how valuable this means of
identification can be if your animals go missing.
The United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved a new microchip for equine identification. The
announcement is available on the Penn
State website.
There are other
means of identifying your horses, such as brands, tattoos, hoof brands, and ID bands,
and all of them are very good, particularly in disaster situations. You will
find a lot of information about identification on Debi Metcalfe’s web site, www.netposse.com,
the web site of Stolen Horse International, Inc. I urge you to visit NetPosse.com
so you can learn for yourself how successful proper identification can be. You
can also purchase microchips and ID bands through Stolen Horse International, along
with protective signs for your property.
