Identification of all companion animals is critical to effective management and to the animal's welfare.

 

The introduction of microchips for dogs and cats brought the promise of a permanent, individualised means of identification. It also brought a number of dilemmas that took many people a great deal of time to sort through.

Overall, the case is argued strongly for a nationally-coordinated microchipping system that can reliably link a microchipped animal to its owner (Getting microchips right). The system must accommodate backward compatibility, device performance criteria, registry control and be used across Australia. It is suggested that the South Australian model provides a solution by packaging together scanners, microchips, registry and microchipping centres, commercial interests and mandatory quality controls. A ‘microchipping checklist' (LINK UAM01McBryde) is available that can be followed to achieve the desired outcome of linking animals with owners.

The complexity of UAM issues and companion animal identification is illustrated by the fact that the NSW Companion Animals Act 1998 was the most widely debated Act in that state's parliamentary history (Compulsory microchipping in NSW). NSW was the first jurisdiction to introduce compulsory microchipping of dogs and cats, that the Act recognised cats for the first time and it applied to all councils. After six years' implementation, trends show increases in desexing rates, reunions with owners and registrations along with a decrease in euthanasia rates from 61% to 41%. Further, microchipping increased the collaboration between councils, breed and rescue organisations, especially in relation to rehoming unclaimed cats and dogs.

It is imperative (Microchips in South Australia)  that each of the components - microchip, scanner and registry operates to high standards for microchip identification to be effective. Preliminary results of an experiment to test the (quite variable) performance of eight microchip types and six scanner models are available (Microchip performance testing).

For effective community management of lost animals, the importance of a clearly marked tag with a collar should not be understated.