COUNCIL PANEL WANTS CATS, DOGS TO HAVE CHIPS ON THEIR SHOULDERS.Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer Dogs and cats adopted from Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. shelters would have microchips imbedded imbedded, adj See embedded. in their necks so they can be electronically identified when lost under a program recommended Monday by a City Council panel. The council's Public Safety Committee voted to ask the full council to approve the program despite some concerns that it involves higher adoption fees for animals that could discourage some people from taking animals home. ``The goal of the program is to make it easier and more efficient to assist owners in finding their lost pets,'' said Sharon Morris, acting general manager of the city Animal Services Department. The tiny chips are implanted im·plant v. im·plant·ed, im·plant·ing, im·plants v.tr. 1. To set in firmly, as into the ground: implant fence posts. 2. just below the skin with a needle. Shelter workers could then use an electronic scanner Noun 1. electronic scanner - a radio receiver that moves automatically across some selected range of frequencies looking for some signal or condition; "they used scanners to monitor police radio channels" scanner , much like a supermarket price scanner, to call up the name, address and phone number of the owner of lost pets. ``This takes away the iffiness of owners not knowing where to look for animals,'' Morris told the council panel. To pay for the microchips, the council panel agreed to impose a mandatory fee of $15 for adopted animals and $25 for animals brought in voluntarily by their owners to get the microchip (1) Another term for a microminiaturized integrated circuit (a "chip"). (2) To insert an RFID tag beneath the skin of an animal. It is expected that some day, humans will be microchipped. . The new fee would increase the adoption charges for dogs from $74 to $89 and for cats from $50 to $65. In response to concerns about how the higher fee might discourage adoptions, Morris said the Los Angeles fees still will be less than getting dogs and cats from pet stores and many humane humane pertaining to the avoidance of infliction of pain, discomfort and harassment; used especially with regard to animals. humane considerations groups. ``So it's considerably more reasonable the way we're doing it,'' said Councilwoman Laura Chick, the committee's chairwoman. However, the program will be re-evaluated after two years to determine whether it hurts the adoption rate, Morris said. |
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