JURY’S STILL OUT ON MICROCHIPPING

Three years on from my original post in Dog World on the dangers of microchipping (click HERE for the article), with April 6th looming I revisit the issue.

I recently saw a story in the Daily Mirror that certainly gave me food for thought. It concerned microchipping, which, as many of you know is a particular interest of mine. Three years ago I wrote a letter to Dog World because I was concerned about the blanket acceptance of this procedure and what seemed to be the complete exclusion of all dissenting voices. There had been many concerns raised over the safety of microchipping dogs, movement of the chips and indeed mumblings about a possible link to cancer.

A DAPPLED DELAY ON THE CONTINENT

From my ‘Crossing the headlines’ column in Dog World (11th February 2015).

For most people, New Year’s Eve is now a dim and distant (and for some a distinctly hazy) memory but, for me, that night is still very, very fresh in the mind!

It found me shivering in the cold outside Pet Control at Calais Eurotunnel with a 15-week-old Dachshund in my arms having just been told that her passport was not ‘fully in order’ and we couldn’t travel home.

And to think that up to that point it had all been going so well. 

FACT: COMPULSORY MICROCHIPPING DOESN’T WORK

Continuing the arguments against compulsory microchipping, this was sent to me by Stephen McMurray of 7th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust in Northern Ireland. It was also published in Dog World in February 2014.

We, at 7^th Heaven Animal Rescue Trust have been voicing our opposition to microchipping ever since it was made compulsory for dog owners in Northern Ireland to have their dogs chipped. I believe that certain parties are also trying to introduce it in the U.K. mainland. I urge your readers to fight this dangerous and unnecessary proposal as I can now prove, using official statistics, that microchipping simply doesn’t work.

Laboratory evidence and real life cases prove that RFID chips can cause cancer and tissue damage and as there is no health benefits whatsoever, we have long argued that it is unethical to carry out this dangerous and unnecessary medical procedure on our pets.

The initial reason compulsory micro-chipping was supposedly introduced was that it would curtail the amount of ‘dangerous dog’ attacks. This is patently preposterous.  Personally, I have never heard of a dog that is about to viciously attack someone think to itself, ‘Hi, hold on a minute, I have a piece of glass and metal inside my neck, I better not attack this person.’

CHANGE OF DIRECTION?

There seems to be movement away from the issue of Bovine TB (which I thought was the reason for the cull) to a need to control rising badger numbers.

An interesting theme from the pro-cull lobby is the reference to the badger being an apex predator with nothing to control its numbers. Do these people making these claims drive around with their eyes shut?

THE MAGIC OF BADGERS

BADGER & CHILD INTERACTION

Further to my attempts to strengthen the anti-cull campaign, I’ve uploaded some pictures taken last year of the local family of badgers that pay visits to my back garden.

The family arrive for supper

This family of badgers live in a sett a few streets away and often visited the garden to dig up earthworms – their favourite food. After some time, I started leaving out food for them and eventually the visitors increased after the arrival of two cubs.

MICROCHIPPING: THE BACKLASH

From the news pages of Dog World (27th February 2013)

In less than a week since my letter was published in Dog World, responses came in from four major parties involved in the pro-microchipping campaign. Interestingly, their defence was a regurgitation of meaningless (and later disproven) statistics and propaganda and failed to confidently answer my questions.

http://www.dogworld.co.uk/product.php/88727