Besides the overwhelming numbers of animals in the shelters due to not spaying or neutering animals, one cause is the inefficiency of the current identification system. The most common forms of identification are tags and tattoos. These methods fail though. First of all, the tags are usually held on by a flimsy aluminum ring and are attached to collars. When the dog escapes th

e back yard, and is running around the neighborhood it is easy to see that the tags usually fall off or the collars break while they are going through trees or under fences. Tattoos, on the other hand, are more permanent and seem like a logical solution to the plan. Unfortunately they are as inefficient though. Unlike cattle identification where the brand must be located on the back right thigh, there is no specific location where the tattoo must be located on small animals. Plus dogs and cats are much hairier, and when dirty, it is almost impossible to see their skin much less a tattoo, if they even have one. Therefore, tattoos are hard to see, hard to read, and even harder to recognize. Using it as a way to identify small animals has proven to be ineffective, costly and painful. Therefore a new system needs to be implemented.

Currently, an estimated $1,000,000 is spent each year per state to fund shelters. This money is spent on housing, feeding, and euthanizing the animals that have not found homes within a week. If the government took a small portion of that money and offered microchips to the public, we could solve many of the problems that result in animal cruelty, starvation, and even death. How could this be implemented? First of all, scanning companies are already giving scanners away for free to those shelters who sign a contract that states the shelter will scan every animal twice, once upon entry into the shelter, and once before euthanasia. Secondly, the cost of the microchips could be lowered dramatically if bought in bulk by shelters, and could be offered around $15 to the public. Registers are already offering the registry service at a nominal cost of $10-$20 but if government sponsored a national registry and have a single cost and could be registered at the shelter, instead of the current process, where it is left up to the owner to register the pet and there are several registries. In some instances the owner forgets, and then the microchip is useless because there is no way to link the registration number sent out by the microchip to an address or information which is stored in the registry computers, and therefore is useless. This is why there is a need for a unified system installed in our shelters, where the animal is microchiped and registered at the same time at a minimal cost. Some argue that this would be too costly and take too long to implement, but the benefits prove the opposite.

The method of microchiping works when other methods fail. Most importantly, microchips are permanent. They do not fall off, or become worn and unreadable like external tags. In fact, the scanners are tested to be able to read the microchips up to three f

Some common words found in the essay are:
Recovery Service, Oklahoma City, Anitech Chip, Warden Association, , ID Questions, animals shelters, tax dollars, euthanizing animals, chip injected, remains enactive, lost pets, animal shelter, dogs cats, animals euthanized, returned owner,
Approximate Word count = 1823
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)