The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has asked the city council to delay the January 10 enforcement of an ordinance, requiring the microchipping of pets in the capital, for another year, to allow more time for city officials to provide microchipping services to pet owners.
Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said today that, during the past year, following the publication of the city ordinance in the Royal Gazette, city officials have managed to microchip about 50,000 cats and dogs, a ten-fold increase on the previous year.
The increase in the number of pets being implanted with microchips is a clear indication of cooperation by pet owners, said the governor, adding however that there are still hundreds of thousands of cats and dogs which are yet to be microchipped.
He pointed out that one of the problems is that there are only about 10 facilities in Bangkok offering the microchip implantation services, which are insufficient to cope with the number of pets.
Another problem, he noted, is that there are still many pet owners who doubt the safety of microchip implantation, adding that there is a need to promote public understanding about their merits and safety.
The third problem, said the governor, is that pet owners in rented houses require consent from the landlords for the registration of pets by microchipping, adding that the ordinance will have to be amended to make it possible for more pets to be placed under such control to prevent straying.
