Toowoomba Regional Council is urging residents in the local government area to check what company their pet microchips are registered to, fearing certain microchips may soon be voided following the collapse of animal registry service, HomeSafe ID.
The microchip company, which is used by many Toowoomba Region residents as well as the RSPCA Queensland, recently went into receivership, with its Queensland database soon to be lost.
Council Portfolio and spokesperson for Environmental and Regulatory Services, Bill Cahill said that if pet owners currently registered with HomeSafe ID fail to update their microchip and their pet goes missing, it may make it difficult for Council to reunite pets with their owners.
“Microchips which continue to be registered with HomeSafe ID will no longer provide any ownership information when scanned in the future. If members of the community drop off a lost dog or cat to our Animal Management Centre, then we will have to rely solely on the owner of the pet to come in and identify their lost animal. This will significantly delay the entire reuniting process,” said Cr Cahill.
“This is a serious issue which will likely affect hundreds of Toowoomba Region residents.
“There are several registries which residents can use to change over their microchip details, including Central Animal Records, Australasian Animal Registry, Petsafe and Global Micro Animal Registry.”
If owners are unsure of their pet/s microchip number, they can consult their regular veterinarian clinic. Alternatively, for dogs only, microchip numbers will be listed as part of the TRC pet registration details.
Most registry companies will charge a small fee to register a microchip, please contact the service directly to find out more information.
It is a legal requirement under the Animal Management (Cats and Dogs) Act 2008 for owners to microchip their pets before they reach 12 weeks of age.
Failure to meet this requirement under the ‘Act’ may result in fines being imposed.
If pet owners are unsure of which microchip provider they use, they can visit: https://petaddress.com.au/ to find out.
