Avid pet lover has strong concerns

There is a serious problem with the free pet microchip program offered by Los Angeles County Animal Control shelters, including the Agoura shelter. The shelters are not sending the owner registration forms to Avid to input the owner data into its worldwide registry, so these pets with microchips are considered not to have "registered owners."

If the shelter picks up the pet as a stray and then scans for a microchip when impounding it, as required to do under state laws, there is no registered owner for the shelter to contact or reclaim the pet. If the pet is wearing a valid license, the owner may be found, but many times stray pets lose their license tag.

Pets that are lost when traveling with their owners face greater risks. The animal control agency that picks up the pet will have a more difficult time trying to find the owner of a pet licensed to another agency. If the owner of a lost pet without a registered microchip does not find the pet at the shelter that picked it up, the pet can be put up for adoption or it can be euthanized (the fate of most older and less desirable pets) after a four- to six-day holding period.

If a pet with a microchip that is not registered is stolen, the thief can register the microchip in his or her own name without any problems. However, if the microchip was already registered to an owner, the thief would have to present Avid with an "ownership transfer and release agreement" signed by the registered owner and then Avid would call the registered owner to verify that in fact the registered owner intended to transfer the ownership rights in the pet.

I strongly urge anyone who has had their pets implanted at a free microchip clinic to call Avid's toll-free number and check the registry to ensure that their pets are in fact registered in their owner's names. If not, then it is imperative that pet owners purchase registration certificates from Avid and forward them immediately for the safety of their pets and their own peace of mind. Rebecca E. Arvizu Agoura Hills