If it’s such good idea, why must it be mandatory? The government in the United Kingdom has just claimed further ownership of your dog.
In a new law, the Crown has granted her subjects the privilege to own a dog but only if the beast is microchipped. That’s right, microchipping dogs is now mandatory throughout the United Kingdom.
It began as a voluntary option for monitoring your own pet, but now, dog owners in the U.K. have a just a few weeks to comply; if local authorities catch dogs without a microchip, owners face expensive fines.
BBC reports “Dog owners who have not had their pets microchipped could face a fine of up to £500, as a new law comes into force. All dogs in England, Scotland and Wales are now legally required to have been chipped by the time they are eight weeks old.”
The reason given for the mandate is to “tackle reckless ownership and help save councils vast sums of taxpayers’ cash looking after strays,” according to Simon Blackburn, of the Local Government Association, as quoted by the BBC.