Radio Frequency Chips to Track Cats

Filed in archive RFID Basics on March 2, 2004

Cat Hiding from AuthoritiesFrom Akron, Ohio in the United States, comes this story making the headlines.

The local animal shelter plans to offer a tracking system to reunite loose or roaming cats with their owners.

Tiny microchips will be embedded under cats' coats. The animal shelter will be equipped with handheld readers which then will be used to scan cats picked up on the streets and brought to the shelter, in an effort to find their owners.

To understand why this has made such news, you have to consider the entire story. It starts in 2002, when the local city council passed an ordinance allowing for the rounding up and destruction of stray cats if not immediately claimed by their owners.

That move caused a huge outcry. The City of Akron was attacked for being "cruel and inhuman." Groups banded together to support the cats. Websites such as SaveOurCats.org were set up to mobilize the opposition to the new ordinance. A lawsuit was even filed on behalf of Akron cats.

The microchip plan is an effort to address the stray cat problem in a more proactive way, by trying to reunite missing cats with their owners. Before it is too late.

In case you want to track your pet with a radio frequency chip, Yahoo has a directory of pet microchip providers.