Special Update - Mayor's Alliance Microchipping Clinics Gain Popularity with New Yorkers - October 2005 - Out of the Cage!, the E-Newsletter of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals

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Special Update

Mayor's Alliance Microchipping Clinics Gain Popularity with New Yorkers

Dr. Cary Nulton and Ariel Ramos of Gramercy Park Animal Hospital scan for a microchip at a recent Mayor's Alliance microchipping clinic.

New Yorkers are waking up to the value of microchipping their pets. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina that left hundreds of pets in the Gulf region separated from their owner/guardians, many New Yorkers are taking steps to ensure their pets' safety in the event of another such disaster, whether natural or otherwise. And many are turning up at Mayor's Alliance low-cost microchipping clinics at Mayor's Alliance/Maddie's Pet Adoption Festivals and other neighborhood events around the city, where dogs and cats can be microchipped for only $25 each.

About Microchipping

Microchipping is a simple procedure that creates even less discomfort than a vaccination. A tiny capsule about the size of a grain of rice is injected under the loose skin on the back of the pet's neck. If the dog or cat becomes lost and turns up at a shelter or vet's office, a scanner can be used to read the digital number on the chip. A phone call to the microchipchip registry — such as the AKC Companion Animal Recovery database, the largest registry — provides the shelter or vet with the owner/guardian's contact information, who then can be contacted to retrieve the pet. And because microchipping provides permanent identification, it is the ideal complement to a dog collar and tags.

Although low-cost microchipping clinics have been featured at nearly every Alliance adoption event this year, the number of pets showing up to be microchipped jumped dramatically in the aftermath of Katrina. Numbers of pets getting microchipped were up at Alliance microchipping clinics in September at the Battery Park City Block Party on September 17, and the following day at the AKC Responsible Dog Ownership Day in Madison Square Park.

Dr. Dan Lauridia of Murray Hill Pet Hospital microchips a dog at the Central Park PAWS Country Fair on October 1.

By October, after several weeks of heartbreaking images appearing in the media of hungry and frightened pets being rescued by hurricane relief workers from numerous humane organizations, it was clear that New Yorkers had gotten the point. On Saturday, October 1, when the Alliance microchipping clinic at the Central Park PAWS My Dog Loves Central Park Country Fair opened for business, well over 100 people showed up to have their pets microchipped. Even people from out-of-state — from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, brought their pets to be microchipped, many admitting that Katrina had prompted them to do so. By late afternoon, supplies of microchips had been depleted, so late-comers were invited back to the park the next day, to the microchipping clinic at the Mayor's Alliance/Maddie's Central Park Adoption Festival.

The Mayor's Alliance will continue to feature low-cost microchipping clinics at its adoption festivals, as well as some other events around NYC in which the Alliance participates.

If you'd like to feature a microchipping clinic at your neighborhood event, please contact us at info@AnimalAllianceNYC.org.