Wales is the first all-scanning country in the world!!!!!

We have some fantastic news we wanted to share with you. We would hope that any coverage would encourage people in Wales to microchip their pets – now there is no excuse! 🙂

In a nutshell, we are a campaign group who aim to challenge legislation (or lack of) surrounding cats on the roads. After losing our own cats to car collisions, who were each left in the road to die with no help, followed by the local council at that time collecting the bodies and sending them straight to landfill sites. They were not scanned nor were we notified. This led to us starting a national campaign for change. Cats are not ‘just pets’ to some people, they are family members, and the least owners deserve is to be notified and have the opportunity to lay their pet to rest. Owners need closure.

Our petition to the Welsh Government; https://www.assembly.wales/en/gethome/e-petitions/Pages/petitiondetail.aspx?PetitionID=1126

was a result of us contacting all local authorities in Wales to see what procedure they had in place, a last resort if you like. We found that 8 councils Wales did not have any procedure at all in place, and peoples pets were sent to landfill without ever having their microchips scanned. Owners search the streets for weeks/months looking in vain for their pet so we challenged each one to reconsider their stance. 3, Powys, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire agreed to look in to it, with Neath and Powys deciding to roll the procedure out. The remaining councils were not interested – even when we offered to donate free equipment as an incentive, as was accepted by Powys, they still declined. So we petitioned the Government….

As a result, the remaining councils opted to implement scanners after the Welsh Assembly became involved and wrote demands to each. That meant that Cardiff, Gwynedd, Newport, Anglesey and Blaenau  Gwent all agreed to put something in place. Just today, the petitions committee announced the fantastic breaking news that Wales are the first country ever to have a throughout system where all domestic pets collected by the roadside in Wales will now be scanned for a microchip and returned to the owners.

We are so happy and proud that we followed this through, and it’s certainly a great legacy for our boys. Hopefully we have saved many from walking the streets calling their pet wondering where they are, and saved hours of people creating missing posters and campaigns online. It’s never going to be nice to hear of course, but it’s certainly better than people are made aware and have the opportunity to retrieve their pets remains for a home burial if they wish.

Anyway, hope to speak soon