More than 89,000 dogs microchipped over past decade

More than 89,000 dogs have been microchipped over the past decade, figures tabled in parliament show.

The highest number of newly microchipped dogs in a single year was 11,358 dogs in 2021, with the lowest being registered in 2014 at 5,877.

Microchipping became a legal requirement in 2012 for any dogs over the age of four months.

Microchipping a dog gives it the best chance of being identified and returned to its owner if they become lost or stolen. The permanent identification chip is inserted under the skin between the shoulder blades by means of an injection.

The animal’s unique chip number, together with the owner’s details, are then registered in the National Microchipping Database. This chip can be read by a scanner at veterinary clinics or by animal welfare officers, and details retrieved from the database.

Cats, ferrets and most other pets can be microchipped as well but there is no legal requirement for them to be tagged like dogs.

Microchipping of dogs was on a gradual rise between 2014 (5,877) to 2021 (11,358) but fell in 2022 (8,848) and 2023 (7,430).

In 2021, the Commissioner for Animal Welfare Alison Bezzina had proposed the mandatory microchipping of cats by their owner.

In a set of recommendations presented to the Animal Rights Minister Anton Refalo, she had argued that experience with dogs has proven beyond any doubt that electronic microchipping is the only permanent method of identifying pets, the best way of ascertaining ownership and the most effective way of curbing abandonment.

“With electronic microchipping not being a legal obligation for cat owners, when cats get lost or injured it is almost impossible to trace their owners. It also makes it very easy for an owner to abandon their cat, and in some cases, feeders are stopped from neutering stray cats by people who claim ownership without proof,” she had argued.

Compulsory microchipping of cats has been introduced in different parts of Europe and Australia. The UK also introduced the microchipping of pet cats as a legal obligation in May 2021.