Important Info for Dog Owners

Electronic Pet Identification by Microchip

by Ralph Kratzer

During a visit last week to my good friend and Vet, Prof. Dr. Kaya in Alsancak, I learned over a cup of Turkish coffee, that since the beginning of this year, a new regulation was introduced in Northern Cyprus, that dog owners are obliged to have their pet microchipped. With this Northern Cyprus follows an EU regulation to uniquely identify pets.

What says the relevant European law ?

Since 1st October 2004 one of many EU regulations in force in Europe, is that when travelling with your dog a pet passport shall be carried.

This requires a clear identification of the animal. Until 2011 a transitional regulation allowed this could be a tattoo, from then on an electronically readable microchip is mandatory for all dogs over 3 months of age.

Already, the entry into the countries of Scandinavia and the British Isles is, without exception, only permitted for dogs that are characterised by a microchip.

What is a chip anyway?

The chip is about an inch long and only two millimeters thick. It is placed by the veterinarian usually in the left neck region (shoulder). The process is very similar to a vaccination and usually painless.

In the microchip a 15-digit number code is stored, the first three digits form the country code and the remaining twelve digits show the worldwide uniquely assigned identification number.

With the aid of a reading device, which activates the chip by radio waves in the low frequency range, the identification number will be visible on the display of the reading device.

Why is registration important?

On the one hand to identify a runaway dog, find the owner as soon as possible and thus avoid a long stay in a rescue shelter for the escaped pet.

On the other hand it is also related to the fact that all dogs must be vaccinated against rabies before travelling. In order that this can be controlled, the animal must be clearly identifiable. The chip number code must be entered together with the vaccination data in the pet passport.

I was also informed by Prof. Dr. Kaya that over here the registration of the encoding, except in the pet passport, also takes place at the veterinary surgery and in the State Veterinary Office.

There are 3 different chip types: the national Cypriot chip, the European and the International one. The advantage of the international identification number is that the dog can travel throughout the world.

The costs for the insertion of the international chip including all registration fees are 70 TL in Mrs. Kaya´s vet clinic.

Last note : there are even chips for particularly valuable dogs that can be located around the world via GPS!

That´s what Margaret Ray of Kyrenia Animal Rescue (KAR) added to this topic:

All dogs should be registered under the TRNC law. This registration runs from Jan to Dec 31st and should be renewed annually. A new addition to this law has been implimented at the beginning of 2014 for all dogs to have a microchip for itentification purposes. You need to visit your local vet for the microchipping and then take the paperwork to the Gov Vet Dept where the microchip details will be registered. The Gov Vet Dept are still at this time preparing the paperwork in relation to the registration of the microchips and KAR will give further information when available. This can be found by visiting the KAR website www.kyreniaanimalrescue.org.