Microchipping of Pets

Ms Jenkyns shared her personal experience of losing a family dog, highlighting the emotional impact of pet loss. She emphasised the importance of microchipping pets to increase the chances of reuniting them with their families. According to the RSPCA, there are 51 million pets in the UK across 44% of households, making pet welfare crucial for many people, especially during health challenges. Ms Jenkyns supported measures requiring vets to scan microchips to combat rising pet theft and to ensure owner awareness before euthanasia.

Highlighted the issue of compulsory dog microchipping but not scanning by vets, proposing new clauses to ban cash sales for pets, make scanning obligatory, and criminalize pet theft more severely. Raised concerns about puppy farming, dog theft, increased violence during thefts, and the rise in property value attributed to stolen dogs. Emphasized the need for legislative updates to protect pets and their owners from crime and violence.

James Daly expressed concerns about the lack of legal requirement for veterinarians, local authorities or highways agencies to scan dog and cat microchips. He highlighted Tuk's law which seeks to prevent unnecessary euthanasia by ensuring rescues are contacted before an animal is put down if it has a registered rescue back-up on its microchip. Daly also supported Fern's law that aims to make scanning mandatory for reunification of stolen pets.

Pet theft reform is crucial, and a single database to identify lost or stolen dogs is basic common sense. The speaker supports new clause 15 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill for Fern's law, which would oblige vets to scan microchips if presented with a dog that needs treatment. She also noted the impact of pet theft on constituents' confidence in taking their pets out.

Jim Shannon expressed concern about the theft of dogs and cats in his constituency, noting that during the pandemic, people have relied on pets for companionship. He cited examples of stolen pets fetching high prices on the black market. Shannon also highlighted the importance of microchipping to reunite lost or stolen animals with their owners, citing statistics from Cats Protection indicating that 26% of cats in the UK are not microchipped.

Ms Cameron visited a rescue centre and highlighted the difficulty in reuniting pets with their owners due to outdated details. She suggested making microchip scanning mandatory for vets at a pet's first consultation and creating a centralised database for microchip companies, which would help reunite pets with their families. With over 3 million pets acquired during the pandemic, she noted an unprecedented rise in pet theft, where only one in five stolen pets are returned to their family.

The MP discussed his own pets, Roux and Ada, two whippets that he had during the lockdown period. He highlighted the challenges of keeping these dogs in the garden due to their escape artist nature and emphasised the importance of microchipping for pet safety. The MP also mentioned the increase in puppy smuggling and profiteering within the pet industry.

The MP thanked the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent North for introducing the petition, highlighting cross-party support for action on microchipping pets. He expressed concern that despite agreement across parties, no concrete steps have been taken. The MP called for swift implementation of secondary legislation and clarification on what needs primary legislation to address the issue effectively. With 235,000 signatures supporting the petition, including 436 from his constituency, he stressed the importance of action not just in microchipping but also in ensuring systems are in place to scan and identify chips when animals go missing or need veterinary care. He supported amendments to existing legislation like the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to include measures against pet theft and advocated for Fern's law requiring vets to check pets' microchips before treatment.

He highlighted the importance of pets as family members and supported the need for compulsory scanning to complement existing microchipping requirements. He emphasised the necessity of a single database system for pet information and stressed the urgency of addressing issues such as pet theft and the increased cost of dogs during lockdown.