People line up to microchip dogs as it becomes compulsory in Britain
LONDON -- Pet owners from the Western Isles in Scotland were lining up to get their dogs microchipped just as it became compulsory for all owners in England, Scotland and Wales to get their pets tagged.
Thousands of pet owners face fines of up to £500 ($704) from Wednesday if they don't get dogs over eight weeks old microchipped.
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Ahead of the new law coming into effect, people were queuing up in Stornoway for a free microchipping event organised by the Dogs Trust, BBC News reported. Generally, microchipping a dog costs between £20 ($28) and £30 ($42).
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BBC posted a video to Twitter showing a queue of dogs and their owners extending down the street waiting to avail of the service.
A local politician was also surprised by the turnout.
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It's been estimated that over a million dogs are still not microchipped in Britain.
When a dog is microchipped it's given a number that shows up whenever the dog is scanned. Whoever microchips the pet takes the owner's contact details, which are inputted with the microchip number into a database.
Dogs must still wear a collar and tag, with the owner's name and address, when in a public place.
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Blathnaid Healy is the UK Editor at Mashable. She joined the company in October 2014 and is based in the London office. Before Mashable, Blathnaid was Content Manager and COO of WorldIrish, a startup focused on the Irish diaspora. She spent almost five years working at Ireland’s largest media company RTE as a multimedia journalist where she also set up the broadcaster’s first dedicated social media team and project managed output for several high-profile events across web, mobile and social media. Blathnaid has reported from the US, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Romania and, of course, Ireland. And in case you’re wondering, it’s pronounced Blan-id.
