http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22366
California bill requires microchip for pets
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE …
'Dog tag' gets whole
new meaning
California bill requires microchip for pets, permits for animal sales
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Julie Foster
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Pet owners in California will soon be required to place a microchip in every dog and cat they sell, as well as obtain a permit for each animal to be sold, if a bill in the state legislature becomes law.
Senate Bill 236 by Sen. Jack O'Connell, D-Santa Barbara, would require anyone who wants to sell a dog or cat under 1-year-old to obtain a permit for an unspecified fee per animal from the local animal services agency. The permit would need to be obtained before advertising any such sale, and all ads would have to include the permit number.
Additionally, the bill provides that every time a dog or cat is sold in California, regardless of the animal's age, it must be "microchipped" and the owner's identification entered into a local or national registry. And every time ownership of the animal is transferred, the new owner's information must be reported to the registry. Local officials would be charged with maintaining records regarding the number and type of dogs and cats sold, and the records would be open to the public, excluding owner- and former owner-contact information.
The bill is sponsored by Richard McLellan, M.D., of the Animal Legislative Action Network, a political action committee that supports animal-rights proposals.
"When an animal is first sold from a breeder into a new home, there's usually a way of finding out who that original owner was. After that, if becomes much less easy to follow these animals," said McLellan about the microchipping requirement. "We identify all sorts of things in our society for a number of reasons. We put serial numbers on VCRs and toasters," but there is no permanent identification marker for pets. The bill would help create a paper or electronic trail for animals.
While the bill does not specify which manufacturer's microchips are to be used, one of the most recent of such devices to enter the market is Applied Digital Solutions' Digital Angel®. As reported by WorldNetDaily, Digital Angel® isn't just for pets. Unlike its microchip ancestors, which were intended for animal identification and location only, Digital Angel® is intended for human use and can monitor vital physical functions such as heart rate and body temperature. Microchips are implanted under the skin of the person or animal.
According to McLellan, pet microchipping is beneficial for a number of reasons. It would facilitate the finding of lost dogs and cats and can aid in determining whether an animal was involved in a vicious attack. McLellan said he would prefer external identification, such as collars and tags, but "there's very low compliance" with collar and registration requirements, he said. Also, people often lose dogs after giving the pet a bath, for which the collar and tags were removed. If microchipping were to occur when an animal is sold, the identification markers would be permanent.
McLellan asserts the bill is carefully crafted so that it is "not forcing anybody to do anything," He believes the bill is "in the be