HONG KONG: A program launched by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in 1996, encouraging people to have their pet dogs implanted with microchips, has been attacked as inefficient in preventing the spread of rabies. Rabies prevention was one of the principal objectives of the plan. The criticism comes from My Pet Magazine based on a study in which 802 pet owners responded to questions.

Under prevention of rabies regulations, dogs over five months old must be vaccinated, microchipped and licensed.

Official figures show that about 70 percent of dogs in the city have been given the chip implants. "But they (the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation) didn't count those who live in public housing and keep dogs illegally," the magazine's chief editor Tang Kwai-sim said in challenging the department's figures.

She continued, among those surveyed, only 25.2 percent said they believe all of their friends submitted their pets for the implant procedure.

More than half of the 123 interviewees who did not have microchips implanted in their dogs said they were unaware of the government policy.

Not only is the government not doing well in education, it is not strict enough in charging the dog owners for not licensing their pets either.

"There are tens of thousands of unlicensed dogs, but only about 550 persons keeping unlicensed dogs are charged every year," Tang said.

People offered various reasons for not implanting their dogs. Some, who live in public housing, said they feared prosecution if they applied for dog licenses.

A lady named Chan who keeps two older dogs says she has no intention of submitting them for microchip implants. "My friends told me that their dogs bled massively during implantation. This is not the picture I want to see," said Chan.

Veterinary surgeon Myra Cheung explained bleeding is normal after implantation, but the wound is not serious and will heal in a short time. "It's the blood scattered around the dog's hair that makes the bleeding look bad," she said.

Tang also reminded dog owners to renew their dogs' licenses every three years and to update rabies shots regularly, since the vaccine loses its effectiveness over time.

(HK Edition 08/07/2009 page1)