i have not heard a thing from my mp!
do not think this edm is going anywhere though cos have just recevied the following garbage from the petition
Tuesday 28 October 2008
Microchips - epetition response
We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to force Councils to Scan Dead cats for Microchips and contact their owners.”
Details of Petition:
“Currently, when a cat is found dead on the road - the countils in England and Wales send the refuse collectors to dispose of them. No attempt is made to contact the owners. We would like to force them to scan for Microchips and contact the pets owners.”
· Read the petition
· Petitions homepage
Read the Government’s response
The Government continues to support voluntary identification of pets - by micro chipping, tattooing or both - and having them registered on nationwide databases, but has no plans to make it compulsory. Such a requirement would place an additional burden on a number of authorities which may well divert resources from other pressing problems.
It would also be virtually impossible for a local authority, or indeed a normal veterinary practice or police station, to be stocked with all the microchip readers that they would need to read every possible microchip. Although certain standards of microchip are recommended for use as part of the Pet Travel Scheme, the pet owner may use any microchip that is available. This includes microchips that may be available in Africa, South America etc, i.e. microchips that the police, local authorities or a vet would not be expected to have a reader for. Nor is there a national database for microchip numbers; at present, most manufacturers run databases only in support of their own product.