Microchips Help Toto Find a Way Home
The city of Austin requires shelters to chip animals
 |
|
| A reunion between a pet owner and their companion used to be more of a miracle than the norm — Dr. Hannis Stoddard experienced this rare luck after a two-week search. When he found his pet 60 miles away from his California home, he knew he had the tools to keep pets at home and out of shelters.
At the time of the loss, he happened to be working on microchips to identify hummingbirds migrating into the U.S. But Stoddard knew the chip could work for companion animals as well, said Mary Metzner, the director of shelter operations for Avid Systems. With this, came the birth of American Veterinary Identification Devices (AVID) in 1985. From agricultural animals to pets to wildlife, microchip identification allows scientists to track migratory patterns and helps people reunite with their stolen or lost loved ones. Other chip brands include, HomeAgain and Microchip ID. “The number one killer in animal shelters is the lack of identification,” Metzner said. “If they don’t have one, they’re more likely to be euthanized. But if they do have it, they’re more likely to go home.” |
|
| The Town Lake Animal Center demonstrates the process of microchipping an animal, and UT Student Hayley Cline explains the importance of the device. |
|
| The number of euthanizations has decreased since the city of Austin passed an ordinance in 2008 that requires shelters to chip every animal taken in. About 61 percent of dogs and 73 percent of cats were euthanized in Texas shelters in 2001, according to The Texas Department of Health. In the fiscal year of 2009, the Town Lake Animal Center euthanized 30 percent of dogs and cats brought to the shelter, according to Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department.
The Town Lake center still takes in a large number of animals per year — about 6,700 in 2009 so far. But don’t fret because there are means to reduce the intake and prevent animal deaths. You can microchip anything you love: cattle, dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, reptiles, horses and even turtles for scientific migration studies, Metzner said. The chip has a proven success rate. After Hurricane Katrina, all horses were returned to their owners due to a Louisiana law requiring the microchip, she said. |
|
17 Responses to “Microchips Help Toto Find a Way Home”
One correction to this article: Fiscal year 2009 is not over. It started in October 2009 and runs through September 2010. Any intake (and kill rate) data is thus not for a full year; it is only for a partial year.
make sure you use p tag for each paragraph so there will be some space between each paragraph.
This is very intriguing, creative topic. Your photographs and video are informative and your information is well researched. We can clearly see the benefits of the chip.
Nice video. You might want to indent your paragraphs, though.
I love the photo banner across the top, and the video is great! Nice “behind-the-scenes” info.
Cute pictures, and the video is informative; I’m glad that you showed the procedure, despite the fact that I think it affected some of our classmates negatively. I haven’t had a chance to read your article yet, but you might want to emphasize the pain factor vs. euthanasia, so people really get the point that this ultimately helps save animals.
My neighbor’s dog was stolen out of their yard. They got it back because the girl who stole the dog took it to a vet where they located the ID chip in the dog’s neck.
Great article! This is such an interesting way to talk about animal shelters and it is very informative.
One of the best we’ve seen thus far. Not only is the research exemplified in the article, but the video is great. The layout is very clean, and it seems you guys are on the right track.
Great video. good sources. All around a very interesting project.
Great video and sources. The text was well written, clean, and had a lot of great statistical information. Overall it was a very interesting topic. I did not know that they tagged dogs like that. This would have made a great story for Texas Newswatch. Great job!
Your video was really memorable, I like it a lot.
Really good job guys! I really enjoyed your banner and the video was good.
This topic was great - and indeed is an important issue to think about; many audience members do probably own a pet. This story also brought emotion!!
Great interviews. The video is very explanatory too which is great. You might want to move the links to the next pages to the other side of the column of text. Thats where the reader will look when they get done reading.
this was a really unique idea! the information and media presented a great way of looking at this useful technology. cool video, too! very…intimate.
Great job guys. The banner is really good with the layout, and although the video made me a little queasy (I just don’t like needles!), it was very well thought out and executed.
Leave a Comment