CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation’s mandatory microchipping initiative has helped a pet owner get his missing Labrador back. All thanks to a dog feeder who recused the canine from West Mambalam and brought it to the civic body’s Kannamapet Animal Birth Control centre to check if it was microchipped. Officials at the centre traced the pet owner, who also resides at West Mambalam, using the microchip details, facilitating the reunion.
Speaking to TNIE, the veterinary officer at the ABC centre said when the dog was scanned using a microchip reader, it was found to be microchipped. “Though the owner had not yet registered the pet’s details online, we were able to trace him using the batch number manually recorded in our register,” the official said.
Sriram (24), the pet owner, said their dog Tommy ran out of their house in the early hours of Monday after breaking free from the leash. “We were searching for it on city roads when we got a call from the GCC,” he said, adding the pet has now been registered online.
As lost or abandoned pet dogs often add to the stray dog population and may be involved in dog bite incidents as they struggle to adapt to unfamiliar surroundings, the civic body mandated microchipping for all pet dogs in January, following recommendations of the state Animal Welfare Board, to curb pet abandonment, hold owners accountable and help to trace missing pets. The GCC also conducted a massive microchipping drive between October 8 and December 14, during which over 70,192 pet dogs were microchipped.