Irresponsible Dundee dog owners have escaped punishment for their pets’ attacks on people and other animals thanks to a lack of compulsory microchipping, the city council has revealed.
Officers drew up a response to a Scottish Government consultation on proposals to force dogs to be implanted with an electronic device, the size of a grain of rice, coded with a unique number that can be read by a scanner.
This would ensure that the owners of lost dogs and of any that had been held after an attack would be identified from their details held on a database.
A report presented to councillors said: “On occasions, dogs that have been involved in attacks were unclaimed and as there was no proof of ownership no further action could be taken against the owner.
“It is therefore our view that compulsory microchipping for dogs would act as a deterrent.
“With the ownership details being more readily available, we believe that less responsible owners would be more likely to keep their dogs under control,” the report said.
Ministers are considering whether to introduce muzzling and the council is supportive of this being limited to dogs that have displayed signs of aggression.
The officers said: “With compulsory microchipping, dog owners should have a greater awareness that enforcement authorities can locate them if the need arose and we believe this will reduce the likelihood of owners allowing their dogs to stray.
“There have been a number of neglected stray dogs brought into our facilities where we have been unable to identify the owner as the dog was not microchipped.”
During 2012/13 there were 304 dogs taken to the council’s kennels, just over a third were microchipped. The devices were implanted in 27 dogs that were rehomed.
Environment convener Craig Melville said: “We’re pleased to support the move to make dog microchipping mandatory. This will give owners an added responsibility for the care of their pets and help us to identify stray dogs brought to the attention of our animal welfare staff.”