Dog officials: Microchip IDs miss main problem

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Dog control officers say the Government's plan to require dogs to be identifiable by microchips in their ears will not curb the biggest troublemakers - the owners of roaming and unregistered animals.

Officers doubt that public safety can be improved by requiring all dogs registered from 2006 to have microchips implanted in their ears.

They are backed by their employers in the Local Government Association, which last week predicted practical problems with the microchip to the parliamentary select committee looking at dog law changes.

A spokesman for animal control officers, John Payne of the Tauranga District Council, said between 5 and 10 per cent of the country's dogs were unregistered - and that 5 to 10 per cent caused 95 per cent of problems.

The registration system was the cornerstone of responsible dog ownership, said Mr Payne. Law changes should be aimed at improving registration.

The Manukau City Council believes it has 4500 unregistered dogs in its area against 17,000 registered.

The city councils of Waitakere and North Shore each have nearly 13,000 dogs registered and Auckland City has about 19,000.

Manukau compliance manager Kevin Jackson said unregistered dogs featured in the 264 prosecutions the city made last year for dogs rushing at and attacking people.

Manukau councillor Noel Burnside said the council saw the microchip requirement as "expensive, unnecessary and unworkable".

"Our main concern is that once you start adding to the cost of registration, people won't do it," he said.

"Our council has also rejected setting up a data base for the microchip system because of the expense."

The committee considering the Local Government Law Reform (No 2) Bill was to visit Auckland this week to hear submissions on proposals prompted by the attack in January on seven-year-old Carolina Anderson.

The microchip is one of the moves that have drawn criticism from Local Government Association vice-president Margaret Shields.

She said they would be of little benefit unless all councils used the same chip and scanner, because dogs were moved from district to district.

The association said that people who did not now register their dogs would not microchip them unless it was made easy and affordable.

Veterinarians say the chip implant operation would cost between $60 and $90.

Technology companies have been lobbying councils for 10 years, but use of microchips has been confined to a few lower North Island councils and some pedigree dog owners.

Details were kept on a database in Sydney, which was separate from the register set up by the New South Wales Government when it made microchips mandatory in 1999.

New Zealand Kennel Club president Ray Greer, of Papakura, said the club planned to make microchips mandatory for members next year and set up its own national data base of about 100,000 dogs.

Mr Greer said it was hoped to bring down the cost of inserting a chip to about $35.

The move was aimed at maintaining the integrity of the club's register of pedigree dogs.

The proposed laws


* Dogs must be on a leash in many public places. Dog owners must build fences to confine their animals.5

* Penalties for breaches of the law are increased, and officials are given more power to seize dogs.

* Dogs registered from 2006 will be required to have identifying microchips implanted in their ears.

* People will be able to be disqualified from owning dogs.

* A select committee will hear submissions on the law in Auckland this week.