BAGUIO CITY-- To easily identify dogs and its owners, the
city veterinary office here is proposing the mandatory registration of the
animals by implanting a microchip on the skin which will bear the
identification of the animal and its owner, an official said on Monday.
“Our plan is to
have dogs registered with microchips, implanted on the skin for identification.
It can stay in the dog’s skin for life which will bear its identity - name,
age, breed, vaccination record, and the owner’s name,” city veterinary office
Dr. Brigitte Piok said.
She said impounded dogs
can be identified and their owners are known and notified.
Stray dogs can also be
identified and their owners who will be penalized for letting their pets loose
on the streets.
This will also help pet
owners who lose a pet or in case of a lost and found, she said.
“The microchip is
non-transferable unlike the dog collar that can be transferred to another dog
because it is embedded in the skin,” Piok said.
She said the
proposal is for inclusion in the budget of the department in 2020 for
implementation in the same year.
“It is in our plan and
we are hopeful that the city council will approve its budget for next year so
that we can implement it by 2020,” she said.
Each microchip cost
between P200 to P250.
Based on the dog survey
of the vet office in 2016, Piok said there are 60,000 dogs registered with
them.
In 2018, the city
veterinary office was able to monitor 30,000 dogs through the annual
vaccination at the barangays.
The different private
veterinary clinics have also catered to about 10,000 dogs, bringing the number
of monitored dogs to 40,000 in 2018.
Piok said owning a dog
requires a big responsibility.
“You must be able to
afford and provide the food that it needs. You have to provide them the
vaccines and medicines they need. You have to be able to register them and pay
the penalties for their violation and you have to provide a house to avoid them
from going stray,” Piok said.
"Dogs should be in
the house or in their house not on the streets,” she added.
Lou and Racky, who take
care of about 100 cats and 15 dogs which they adopt, spend about P20,000 a
month for food alone.
This is aside from the
medicines; vaccines and the milk they give to newly adapted stray animals they
find roaming the streets.
They built a two-story
house for their pets so that they will not roam the compound and will not be
contaminated with fleas and disease.
Among the animals which
they have adopted include a three-legged cat, a one-eyed cat and a sickly puppy
that often needs medication.
Piok said the city has
an annual program that provides free rabies vaccination in the 128 barangays of
Baguio, as a prevention measure. They also give free vaccination daily to
walk-in clients.
She said in 2018, only
one case of rabid dog was recorded, adding that the vet office has yet to
record a rabies case as of this year.
“So far we have
not had a case of rabies in Baguio and we hope we can maintain that," she
said.
She called on the
residents to leash their dogs to prevent the possibility of contamination as
Irisan barangay in Baguio is only 11 kilometers away from where the cases of
confirmed rabid bites were recorded in Sablan, Benguet.
The rabies cases led to
the town’s declaration of a state of emergency.
As a prevention, the
city, she said, gives free vaccines. Stray dogs are also impounded. (PNA)
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