Everyone concerned about missing dogs might like to have a look at this?

[Fran Griffin]

http://vetsgetscanning.co.uk/

[Finding_Beau]

Nardi, seeing that you specifically directed your comment to me, I will respond but before I talk about this specific forum topic, I refer to  a comment I recently made that many ES members do not properly read the forum topic nor the comments made by other ES members. If you read Fran’s link, this refers specifically to stolen dogs. The link states: A microchip is useless to a stolen dog unless Vets Get Scanning! I make the same statement on the Legal Status of a Dog web page of my website www.findingbeau.com/legal_status.htm. There are other relevant statements on Fran’s link which I will not repeat because the words are there for everyone to read themselves.

My comment above refers specifically to stolen dogs and other stolen companion animals. FYI a “missing” dog has a different legal status from a stolen dog.

You state: I don’t know what vets you have been to. If you read my comment above I state that I had contacted every vet practice in Australia. In 2003 these practices approximated 2,500. This took me many months to complete at considerable cost. (I borrowed the money to fund my search for Beau). I could not email the vet practices because the majority of email addresses were not made publicly available. I did not write to every vet practice in Australia once, I wrote to every vet practice in every State of Australia at least 3 times; SE Queensland vets more than 12 times; the Queensland and NSW vets about 6 times; etc. I also wrote to other vet, govt, animal welfare organizations .. too many to list here.

In your comment, you refer to 6 vet practices and lost dogs. My comment refers to thousands of vet practices and stolen dogs. Your experience is also completely different from mine.

You are incorrect in stating there is a “central telephone number” to check microchips. There are numerous microchip databases in Australia with numerous contact numbers. This has been a cause of concern for more than 15 years. Microchipping was made compulsory in the state of NSW in 1998. There continue to be major flaws with the microchipping system in NSW and other States of Australia.

As I have stated above, to this day there is no legal requirement in Australia for any vet to scan a stolen dog (or cat etc.) for a microchip. This behaviour contradicts criminal legislation in Australia because it is a crime to steal a dog or any companion animal. To this day there is no legal requirement for any vet to scan a dog (all companion animals) to verify legal ownership before they treat the dog. Obviously there is also no legal requirement for a vet to scan a lost dog brought into the surgery.

The reason stolen dogs are rarely seen again is because the only time these dogs are scanned is if they happen to get away from the criminals who stole them and they are then taken to a vet practice or an animal organisation to be scanned for a microchip. This is a national disgrace.

Dog stealing has been a major problem in the UK and Australia for a very long time, i.e. more than 15 years.

When my book is published I will be able to reveal a lot more information than is shown on my website for my stolen English Setter, Beau. This information is based on legal fact and is not fabricated.