TUCSON, Ariz. - As we get closer to the Fourth of July, Pima County Animal Care staff are recommending pet owners microchip their pets.
"The lovely thing about microchipping is that sometimes it works immediately after their lost and sometimes it works a little later. Within the past two months we've been able to reunite folks with their pets that have been lost for years. They scan the chip, that was their dog and they called them up and the number was working still and we were able to help them out," said Nikki Reck, with the Pima Animal Care Center.
There is one step, however, staff said often goes overlooked, and that is registering your pets' microchips.
Registering a microchip can be done for free on several online websites. You can access one of those websites here.
All that is required is the pet owners information, for example, phone number and address and the pets information, like breed, age, and size.
"That's so important because having the chip is great because if you don't register a phone number or an address, it's worthless because they don't know how to contact you if they scan the pet and they say oh it does have an owner but we don't know how to reach them," said Reck."
Over the span of the seven days following the fourth of July last year, Pima Animal Care staff said more than 400 dogs and cats were taken to the facility.
Some of those pets had registered microchips and were reunited with their owners, while others weren't.
In an effort to reunite lost pets with their owners after fourth of July festivities, the Pima Animal Care Center is continuing their drive-up microchipping event on July 3.
The clinic will take place at Pima Animal Care Center, which is located at 4000 N. Silverbell Rd. between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
