Cape Town – The Cape of Good Hope SPCA has reiterated calls for pet owners to microchip their animals as they
were receiving a large number of strays.
The organisation’s Belinda Abraham said reuniting pets with their owners was not an easy task, especially when they had no microchip.
“Very often animals are admitted with no means of identification, making trying to find their parents the equivalent of looking for a needle in a haystack.
“A microchip increases the chance of a pet being found and returned to his or her owner. It also offers proof of ownership should your pet ever go missing or worse,
be stolen” said Abraham.
She said no matter how responsible pet owners were, accidents did happen.
“Microchipping your pets is a necessity - anyone’s dog can go missing and it can happen to even the most cautious of pet owners.
“A broken gate; a loud noise or bang or a cat running past an open door can see your pet escaping.”
The SPCA also offers microchipping, Abraham said.
“It’s just an injection that they (pets) get under the neck and when they are found they get scanned and the owner’s details pop up.”
Abraham said according to
the City’s by-laws, an owner had
10 days to claim a lost pet.
“If they don’t claim it in those 10 days we do an assessment for rehoming purposes and after that we start with vaccination protocols, and evaluate the animals and look for a potential home.”
Anyone who wants to microchip their pet can contact the SPCA on 021 700 4166 or email [email protected].
The cost is R150-R200.