09/23/15 Microchips Save Animals
The autumn campaign named "Adopting is Cool" invites citizens to be responsible for their companion animals
- September 26, Ban Jelacic Square in Zagreb: informational and educational stalls, dogs' corner and microchip readers
Zagreb animal shelter in Dumovec and the City of Zagreb in cooperation with Animal Friends Croatia are organizing the autumn campaign-action, "Adopting is Cool", to emphasise the importance of microchipping companion animals. The action will take place on Saturday, September 26, 2015 from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. on the Ban Jelacic Square in Zagreb.
Educational leaflets will be available on the informational stands so as to raise awareness about the legal obligation of microchipping animals. There will also be t-shirts for visitors, promoting the idea of adopting animals, instead of buying them.
Shelters, animal protection associations and citizens regularly find abandoned dogs without microchip-tags. However, microchipping dogs has been obligatory since 2010 and the law provides a 600 HRK fine for not complying with that regulation. The owners of microchipped dogs and cats can always be tracked to their owners, usefully and speedily. The purpose of microchipping is for identifying the owner quickly and easily and obtaining information about them and about the animal that has been found for their benefit and itself without further legal liability. This campaign will inform about the benefits of responsible tagging-microchipping and properly remove any concerns or fears regarding issues of abandonment. Since the fine for abandoning untagged non-microchipped animals is 15000 HRK, this may then be falsely confusing liability with responsibility; a microchipping responsibility which carries no fine whatsoever, even when an animal is found and returned!
Microchipping is done in all veterinary clinics. A microchip is a small oval capsule of the size of a grain of rice, made of solid, firm material and it is completely harmless for dogs. It contains a unique identification number which can be scanned with microchip readers that are available in every veterinary clinic. When the reader is brought closer to the part of the dog's fur where the microchip is put, the identification number will appear on the screen, which enables the persons who have found the dog to check the ID number and obtain the information about its owner.
Collars and tags that are put around dogs' necks can be easily removed, which makes it impossible to tell where the dog came from and to whom it belongs. Microchipping is, therefore, extremely helpful in finding the owners of abandoned or stray dogs, which also helps in preventing uncontrolled reproduction of animals. It is particularly useful for animal shelters because microchipped dogs can be returned to their owners immediately. Microchipping is done only once and if the owner changes, the data in the database change as well, but the information about the previous owner remains in the database. That is why it is important to inform your veterinarian about every change.
Microchipping has far-reaching consequences because it can save many animals from suffering and death and it can save substantial financial resources of local communities that would be used for taking care of irresponsible citizens' animals. Since microchipping dogs is obligatory, it is important to monitor the implementation of this regulation in the entire country. Citizens who are aware of dogs that haven't been microchipped can report it to the veterinary inspection or utility office. In that way they are directly helping the dog in question, their local community, as well as shelters and animal welfare associations that take care of animals.
Animal Friends Croatia would like to invite citizens to be responsible towards their pets and remind them to microchip them so that they can find them easily in case they get lost or wander off. Those who would like to have a new four-legged family member can visit their nearest animal shelter or adopt animals that are advertised on the Internet or in the newspapers.
For additional information on obligatory microchipping, the list of veterinary clinics and animal shelters and small ads visit www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr.
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