Dog Identification: Following England's Lead, Wales and Scotland Will Make Microchipping Mandatory in 2016

Dealing with lost and stray dogs costs British taxpayers and animal protection associations 33 million pounds a year, or more than 45 million euros. In this context, microchipping dogs is widely supported across the Channel for animal welfare reasons, but also to encourage greater responsibility among dog owners.   Under the new laws enacted in February 2015 in England (Microchipping of Dogs England Regulations 2015), all dogs over eight weeks of age must be microchipped by April 6, 2016. For its part, the Welsh government has also just made dog identification via transponder mandatory by spring 2016, in line with the English timeline. Scotland has just followed suit, bringing standards into alignment across the United Kingdom. Dogs must therefore be microchipped and registered with their owners’ contact information. Owners, including dog breeders, will be required to keep this information up to date, and it will follow the dog throughout its life. Anyone engaged in dog breeding will be required to microchip their puppies before selling them or transferring them to other owners. Imported dogs must also be microchipped. The only possible exemption from microchipping an animal is a medical contraindication, certified by a veterinary certificate. To comply with the new requirements, owners or keepers can have their dogs microchipped for free at approximately forty facilities located throughout the country. Many veterinarians also offer transponder implantation, as do several animal protection associations and certain local authorities. If a dog is found to be unmikrochipped after the entry into force of the law, its keeper will receive a warning requiring them to bring the animal into compliance and will face criminal prosecution and a fine of £500 (€700) if they fail to heed this warning. In addition, as of February 24, 2015, anyone who observes an adverse effect resulting from the implantation of an electronic transponder (defective microchip, migration, abnormal reaction in the animal, etc.) must report it through the Microchip Adverse Event Reporting Scheme, administered by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD). In this context, veterinarians are on the front lines, just as they are when it comes to getting the message across to their clients.