Georgia, Microchipping and Justice on My Mind

A bill in Georgia that requires animal shelters to scan for microchips, signed into law June 2 by Governor Sonny Perdue, is a good thing and has me reminiscing.

Pets can't talk: They can't tell you where they live. And collars and tags are often lost. Because of that, microchips help reunite pets with their owners. 

Indeed, during Hurricane Katrina, most horses were reunited with their owners because of a state requirement that they be microchipped. However, thousands of cats and dogs weren't microchipped and tragically were never able to be reunited with their owners. Even the lucky owners who were able to track down their animals sometimes faced legal battles to prove the animal was theirs, as showcased in the wonderful documentary Mine.

It's unbelievable that we should even need state laws such as Georgia's. Scanning an animal for a microchip when it is picked up should be a no-brainer. Some humane animal-control agencies are scanning the animals in the truck and taking them directly home, so they don't ever have to enter the shelter. However, some still refuse to scan animals for microchips — they view it as an added burden on their personnel. Hence the need for the law.

Back in 2001, in Illinois, the first law I was able to help draft and spearhead was The Humane Euthanasia in Animal Shelters Act. Microchipping was on my mind. We had one animal control administrator who flatly refused to scan any animal for a microchip. She contended that it took too long; it was easier just to euthanize them. 

Her arbitrary refusal, and the ramifications on the hundreds of dogs and cats that entered that county shelter, stuck with me. I decided to include the requirement of scanning an animal before euthanasia to the bill we were running. The sponsor, Rep. David Leitch, agreed. The bill passed and was signed into law by then-Governor George Ryan. Contained in the bill was not only a provision that euthanasia technicians must scan an animal for a microchip before euthanasia, but also another that made it a crime if they failed to — a Class A misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for the second offense.

Ironically, this small provision saved Justice, one of my feral cats. In late September 2001, I was teaching the Illinois animal cruelty laws at the Illinois State Police Academy in Springfield. On my way out of the parking lot, I noticed numerous cats and kittens eating from the Dumpster on the academy's ground adjacent  to the highway. Still devastated from the tragedy of Sept. 11, I knew I had to act. I contacted the Police Academy workers and got them to trap the cats. The Animal Protective League in Springfield sterilized and microchipped  the cats for me, and I brought them back to my barn — a much safer place for them. We kept the ferals in a cage for two weeks and let them out. One of those cats was Justice. 

Most of the cats hung around, recognizing a good gig when they saw one. However, Justice booked. Fortunately, the new law with the microchipping provision took effect while he was on the lam.

About three months later, we got a call from a local animal control officer. He said, "We've got one of your feral cats here. Come get him." Justice had been trapped about a mile from our barn. Because he was a feral, they couldn't handle him. After waiting the required three days, they sedated him and prepared to euthanize. But because of the newly enacted law, they scanned him for a microchip before inserting the needle. Lo and behold, they found one and called us. We gratefully picked him up.  

Justice has been with us now for almost nine years. He's morphed from a feral to a community cat to a pet.  We can touch him, and in response he purrs.   

Thinking of Justice and all the Georgia animals that will benefit from this new law, I can almost hear humanitarian Willie Nelson softly crooning Georgia on My Mind, particularly one appropriate verse: "Other arms reach out to me/Other eyes smile tenderly/Still in peaceful dreams I see/The road leads back to you."

Justice for all the lost cats and dogs in the world.

Photo Credit: "Justice" by Lynn Terry