In some countries, such as New Zealand, you are obliged to register and microchip your pet dog.

Australasian Animal Registry: update details.

Where it’s not compulsory though, a microchip can greatly increase the chances that your lost pet will be returned to you — provided you keep your contact details up to date.

A recent study in the USA looked at the numbers:

For the study, 53 shelters in 23 states agreed to maintain monthly records about microchipped animals brought to the facilities.

Data were collected from August 2007 to March 2008. The shelters reported outcomes for a total of 7,704 microchipped animals.

That’s a lot of animals. Keep in mind those are the animals that actually had microchips too.

Problems finding owners

In all, owners were found for 72.7 percent of microchipped animals.

In cases in the study in which owners were not found, the reasons included incorrect or disconnected phone numbers (35.4 percent), owners’ failure to return phone calls or respond to letters (24.3 percent), unregistered microchips (9.8 percent) or microchips registered in a database that differed from the manufacturer (17.2 percent).

Confusion and problems with contact details

One of the problems with not being able to locate the owners of microchipped animals is that contact information can be registered in various different places.

Another problem is remembering to update details such as changed phone numbers, and figuring out where update them:

Most people who obtain a microchip for their pet register their contact information with the chip’s manufacturer, Lord said. But a pet owner also can register with another company. In addition, many animal shelters keep their own microchip registry databases.

But a website is going to sort that out:

Because of these multiple registration options, Lord said a new Web site developed by the American Animal Hospital Association,

petmicrochiplookup.org

petmicrochiplookup.org, is likely to further improve the chances that owners of lost animals with microchips will be found. The site, launched in late September, performs a real-time lookup of a microchip number and determines which company has a registry for that microchip.

“The site will tell users that a microchip is registered with a specific database and list the registry number to call.

A shocking statistic

But here’s the tragic item that really caught my eye:

Among those found, 73.9 percent of the owners wanted the animals back in their homes.

So around 25% of owners in the study went to the trouble to microchip their animal but didn’t want it back after it strayed from home? I find that bizarre.

[Extracts taken from: Microchips Result In Higher Rate Of Return Of Shelter Animals To Owners.]

It’s quite a problem, that we have homeless people in our cities. It’s a problem in cities all over the world, though many groups provide shelters for the people needing them.

It’s not an easy thing though, as some of the homeless have extra needs, such as also needing shelter for their assistance dogs:

Shawnine Mackay, who often sleeps on the street near Hollywood Boulevard by lowering herself out of her wheelchair onto the ground, said she would love to be able bed down in one of Los Angeles County’s dozens of homeless shelters.

But shelter workers have repeatedly turned her away because of her dog, Molly, who is trained to help her detect and cope with seizures.

[Via : Shelters sued over ban on aid dogs - Los Angeles Times.]

The shelters are turning them away because of problems housing the dog. Some have areas for pet dogs, but the dogs may be housed some distance away, for example on another floor of the building.

Obviously that doesn’t work with assistance dogs.

On the other hand, other people in the shelter may be allergic to dogs, or afraid of them.

It’s a tricky problem, and one you’d think could be resolved, perhaps by discussing the problems and rearranging accommodation options.

However in Los Angeles:

the Housing Rights Center and the Disability Rights Legal Center filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and several shelters it funds, alleging that such bans by homeless shelters are against the law.

The Americans With Disabilities Act and fair housing laws do not allow discrimination against people just because they rely on service animals, the suit said.

This will be one to watch.