The city of Wichita is looking at a recommendation made by the Animal Services Advisory Board to make it mandatory for owners to have their dogs and cats microchipped. In 2023 the animal services advisory board made a subcommittee to discuss changes that could help out the animal shelter. One of the recommendations the board made was making it mandatory for all dogs and cats to be microchipped. It says this would help get lost animals back to their owners. Lt. Derek Purcell with the Wichita Police Department agrees. He told KAKE News this is the best thing to keep animals out of the already overflowing shelter. “Right now I have 187 animals in the shelter and I have no cats with microchips and 12 dogs so that’s roughly 6% that are microchipped,” he said. A microchip is a small metal piece that is inserted between an animals shoulder blades. It’s registered to a code that is connected to your address and phone number. If a pet has an up to date chip then an owner can be found when it is scanned. Purcell says this ordinance would help a lot. Not only would every pet have a chip but the chips would also work how they’re supposed to as people would update their information yearly.
Source: KAKE – News
