Barnet Council offered free scanning machine by Finchley vet to help trace dead pets

4:20pm Tuesday 1st December 2009

By Kevin Bradford

A VET has offered to supply Barnet Council with a scanning device so pet owners can be told if their animal is found dead.

Officers from the council's street cleaning team currently have no way of checking for microchips that have been implanted in an animal to help with identification.

It means that if smaller animals, aside from dogs, are ever found killed in the borough, no effort is made to try to trace the owner before it is disposed of with general rubbish.

Previously, the council said they do not have the technology to scan animals such as cats and birds, but said efforts are always made to find any kind of identification and officers are encouraged to deal with any discoveries of dead pets “sympathetically and appropriately”.

But Julius Neuman, a veterinary surgeon at Medivet, in Finchley, has now offered the council a scanning machine free of charge, that will help match up the animals to their owners.

He has been in touch with Bayer Animal Health, who produce the Tracer brand of microchip, and said they are willing to donate the technology to the borough.

“The chips are pretty much indestructible and the device to scan an animal is very easy to use,” said Mr Neuman.

“If they take the animals to the same place before disposing of them they will only need one scanner to check them. We can then show staff how to use the microchip and explain how the pet database works.

“We do it all the time if someone brings us a pet and if they are chipped, you can find the owner within 20 minutes.”

Mr Neuman said owners get their pets chipped to help trace them if they go missing, and added that if the council had this technology it would encourage more people to do use the tagging on their animals.

But he said council bosses have been less than enthusiastic about taking him up on the offer.

“But nobody in Barnet has been able to help me. I have just been given the run around. We want to give them the technology because it is such a simple thing to have.”

A statement from the council said they are still considering if it would be viable for the borough to take on a scanning machine.

Council officers admitted it was “a very kind offer”, but added: “The council’s only concern is the potential for other costs to the taxpayer. We will be looking at the implications of this in the next few weeks before making a final decision.”