We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make it a requirement that all organisations coming in to contact with a dog should check for permenant id, either microchip or tattoo. This would ensure many missing/stolen dogs would return home.”
Details of Petition:
“The system of permanent id is not working to it’s full ability. Charities, rescues, vets, rehoming centres, grooming parlours, police etc are in a position to get dogs home. Respect should be given to people who permanently id their pets. Stop the heartache make Dolly’s Directive real.”
· Read the petition
· Petitions homepage
Read the Government’s response
Thank you for your letter and petition about a requirement for all organisations coming into contact with dogs to check for permanent id, known as ‘dollysdirective’.
The Local Government Act 1988 repealed the old dog licence on the grounds that it cost more to administer than the revenue it produced. Recent information shows that there has been very little change in the population of dogs and the number of straying dogs since 1988. There is no evidence to suggest that the opinion of dog owners has changed and that any new scheme introduced would be adopted. Presently, we have no plans to reintroduce a dog licence or any other form of dog id such as a microchip or tattoo. Responsible dog owners voluntarily undertake having their pets permanently identified and registered on nationwide databases. The Government continues to support voluntary identification. The effectiveness of dog licensing was also limited by the fact that in the last year licenses were administered only 44% of owners applied for their licence. Whilst there is merit in making it easier to identify lost, stolen or stray dogs, there could be significant logistical and cost issues about making it mandatory to possess scanning equipment, particularly where small businesses or charitable organisations are involved. We also feel that it would be impractical to equip such a diverse array of organizations with the means to scan or identify dogs.
The Dog Identification Group (DIG) recommended in its report from 2000 that a voluntary scheme for the permanent identification of dogs be introduced. Since the DIG report, there has been an increase in voluntary dog registration. At the forefront of this is Petlog, which is the largest pet reunification service in the UK. It manages a database of over 3,500,000 records. This is on hand 24 hours a day to authorised bodies such as animal wardens or animal welfare centres, who can scan the chips in found animals and trace their owners via the Petlog database. Today up to 40-50% of dogs are registered on the Petlog system.
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