It?s not magic, but Anne Arundel County Animal Control can reunite lost pets and their owners with the simple wave of a wand.
More than 100 pet owners came to Anne Arundel County Animal Control on Tuesday evening for its first microchip implanting clinic. Animal-control workers injected a grain-of-rice-sized chip loaded with owner information in the back of each animal?s neck. When Animal Control officers find a lost animal, they can wave a wand-shaped scanner to see if the animal has a microchip implanted, which will bring up the owner?s information.
“Collars come off ? these don?t,” said Yvonne Hall, a shelter technician.
Glen Burnie resident Laurie Collins said her mixed-breed dog, Moxie, doesn?t always stay by her side.
“She?s part Jack Russell so she could possibly be a runner,” Collins said.
The quicker-than-lightning injection and $20 fee was well worth her peace of mind, she said.
“Me trying to hold her down was the biggest problem,” she said.
Dogs as light as 3 pounds and as heavy as 75 pounds came in for the microchip implanting.
Gidget, a 4-month-old miniature pincher, let out a yelp when the syringe plunged through her skin. But she quieted down when veterinarian technician Jackson Burnett cradled her head and applied a cotton swab to the back of her neck.
“They?ve all been great so far,” he said of the pets.
Since June, Animal Control has placed the microchips in all pets that are adopted from the county, said Nick Haynes, kennel supervisor at Anne Arundel County Animal Control.
“I was concerned that there were so many animals coming in here without collars, without any type of I.D.,” Haynes said. ” I just felt it was in the best interest of the owners and the animals to reunite them as quickly as possible.”
More than 100 chips have been implanted in cats and dogs since June, Haynes said. And the technology has already helped to return one missing dog to its owner in mid-July.
“It?s probably one of the most exciting things, to sit back and watch a pet reunite with its owner. It?s touching,” Haynes said.
HomeAgain Pet Recovery Service, the company that makes the chip, has sold about 3.5 million devices since 1995, according to its Web site. Its marketing company, Schering-Plough, has seen an increased interest in the recovery service since Hurricane Katrina, said Mary-Fran Faraji, a spokeswoman.
