Midterm writing

Is it beneficial to Implant Microchip on pets?

  People have lived with animals since time out of my mind. Most people think that man who raises pets must also be responsible for them. People guess keeping pets need money, time as well as responsibility. One of the ways to keep pets is micro-chipping on pets.

 Have you ever heard about microchip implant? Microchips can be transplanted by a veterinarian. It is an identification choice for pet owners. Vet implants microchip using with injector. Site of injection is under the dog’s shoulder skin. Microchip contains chip, coil inductor and a capacitor.

In Korea, pet owners must register their pets by implanting microchips or carrying registration cards. If owners don’t register their pets, they have to pay fines; up to 400,000 won from July 2013.

  Click this video, it will introduce Micro-chipping on pets.

Implanting microchip has advantages and disadvantages. We have to weigh up the pros and cons. 

 There are 3 advantages about implanting microchip. First, it helps abandoned dog find their home. After injecting microchip, owner must enroll owner’s information about address, shelter, telephone number and pet’s name, further description and vaccination, shot records. It is designated by pet owner. So if your pet is lost, contact registration company.  And then they will help to find your dog using with the ID that you are registered. Click this video, the video will provide information about registering microchip. 

 Second advantage is that microchips can’t get lost. When microchip is injected on your pet, it will not disappear. Usually chips are inserted under the skin at the back of neck between shoulder blades. 

 Third, Microchip inserting is simple and No more painful. Injection might take a short time. Microchip is similar in size to a grain of rice. It feels same as injecting vaccination.

 But there are disadvantages of injecting microchip. First, microchip has a potential that moving from its original site. So, pet’s owner must check the site of the microchip at least once a week. 

 Next disadvantage is that microchip has a health concerns. Microchip can cause cancer or tumor in animals. A series of veterinary studies, chip implants had induced tumors in some rats. Furthermore, since 2007 cases of microchip caused cancer have emerged several studies. 

  Last, micro-chipping is an also big business. Owners have to pay money when change their contact details. Chipping company expands their market and increases their profits. If you want to more information about disadvantages, click this link.

http://www.chipmenot.org.uk/whats_wrong.asp

  In my opinion, we have to implant microchip on our pets.

I agree with the policy of microchips on pets. There are a lot of benefits to micro-chipping.   We can find abandoned pets through scanning microchip. There are about 13,600 animal shelters around the world. ‘Approximately 7.6 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide. And each year approximately 2.7 million animals are euthanized(1.2 million dogs and 1.4 million cats).’ It is a tragedy, isn’t it? If a dog is not adopted within a certain time, it must be euthanized. Dog tag has a potential disappeared. But microchip is not disappeared, it has permanence. So it can be a evidence for finding their owners. For more statistics about animals, click this link.

 https://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics

 Implanting microchip adopted as official policy. In Korea, there is a policy that pet owner must hang dog tag on their pet or inject microchip as I mentioned. If not, owners have to pay fines. Moreover, pet’s owners around the world already use micro-chipping. In New Zealand, pet owners must register by microchip after 1 July 2006. England will have mandatory micro-chipping of all dogs by 2016. It means registering pets become an important issue.
For our pets, we have to consider side effects like health problems. But the potential of causing cancer by implanting microchip is very low. Let’s read research report about causing tumor.

From the American Veterinary Medical Foundation:

"There have been reports that mice and rats developed cancer associated with implanted microchips. However, the majority of these mice and rats were being used for cancer studies when the tumors were found, and the rat and mice strains used in the studies are known to be more likely to develop cancer. Tumors associated with microchips in two dogs were reported, but in at least one of these dogs the tumor could not be directly linked to the microchip itself (and may have been caused by something else)." 

For your lovely pet, implant microchip.