In an effort to ensure lost pets are reunited with their owners during the holidays, the City of San Bernardino Animal Services Department will be offering residents of San Bernardino and Loma Linda the chance to microchip their pets for free through December 31. Grant funding from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and the California Animal Welfare Funders Collaborative is making this opportunity possible.
Microchipping is available Tuesday through Saturday between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm at the Shelter, located at 333 Chandler Place in San Bernardino. No appointment is necessary. The microchipping and registration into the pet ID database only take a few minutes.
“Microchipping is far and away the best way to quickly get lost or stolen pets back to their families,” said San Bernardino Animal Services Director Kris Watson. “Thanks to scanning, our Animal Control officers are often able to immediately return lost pets to their homes without ever bringing the animals into the Shelter.”
A study by Ohio State University found that microchipped cats were 20 times more likely to be reunited with their families than non-microchipped cats and microchipped dogs were reunited at a rate 2.5 times more often than dogs that weren’t microchipped.
Pet microchips are implantable computer chips that encode a unique identification number to help reunite owners with their lost pets. They are no bigger than a grain of rice and they are placed under a pet’s skin. The procedure is quick and painless for the animal. Unlike collars and ID tags, they can never break or fall off. When the chip is scanned, the pet’s encoded chip identification is recognized by the scanner. With the chip identification number in hand, reuniting a pet with its family is only a phone call away.
San Bernardino Animal Services reminds current pet owners with microchips if any of your contact information (phone number, address, email) has changed, to be sure you update your microchip registration online in the database.
The free microchipping promotion is limited to residents of San Bernardino and Loma Linda. For more information, contact San Bernardino Animal Services at (909) 384-1304.