There are a lot of reasons to get your pet microchipped and register it with an appropriate database, but the biggest reason why many owners either already have or will do so soon is because it is the law.
Dogs by the time they are eight weeks old and cats by the time they are 20 weeks old must be microchipped or the owner can face a fine of up to £500.
However, whilst following the law is a good incentive, it is also important to know, understand and appreciate why the law is in force in the first place, and one of the reasons is that it protects against Great Britain’s newest pet crime.
The Pet Abduction Act 2024, which reached royal assent on 24th May 2024 but only commenced and became enforceable on 24th August has made abducting a pet a criminal offence punishable by up to five years in prison.
Previously, pet abductions were illegal, but they were typically governed under property theft laws under the Theft Act 1968, and given that pets are not simply inanimate objects but are members of the family, new legislation was necessary.
For pet owners who have been the victim of dognapping, this legislation could not have come soon enough, and the seeds for a pet abduction law started to be sown in 2021, following a wave of thefts of dogs and cats during the lockdown.
According to the Pet Theft Taskforce, over 2000 dogs and 400 cats were stolen, and those are just the ones reported to the police.
Microchipping can prevent it by making it very difficult for stolen animals to be resold for money, as the previous owner’s information will still be on the database, and as soon as a vet scans it, the crime will have been found out.
The threat of this works as a disincentive and helps to prevent crime.
