Microchip mistake causes heartache for dog owner

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

A Putaruru couple's joy meant devastation for a loving dog owner who had to give up his adopted pet because of a stuff-up when entering the dog's microchip number.

Thomas, a red and white bull dog, was originally stolen in January 2013 from his Putaruru home.

But two years of searching by his original owners, Betty Wilson and her partner Kelly Martin, finally ended at the Henderson animal shelter on Sunday when now owner Glenn Young signed over his ownership rights in a bittersweet reunion.

Wilson and Martin had spent years searching for their missing pet with no luck due to his microchip number being entered incorrectly when they first got him.

That also meant he didn't show up as missing when he was picked up in Kelston, West Auckland on July 7 2014 by Auckland Council Animal Control staff.

Geoff Keber acting manger for animal management said shelter staff loaded Thomas's details onto the national database including several lost and found websites in an attempt to find his owners. The search extended to the New Zealand and Australasian register with no success.

'The number scanned on the microchip did not correspond with any of these dog databases. This appears to be because one number was missing when entered into the database originally on the local South Waikato register. Due to the size of these databases, it makes a big difference,' Keber said.

'This made it impossible for shelter staff here in Auckland to find any details about the owners of the dog.'

South Waikato District Council communications manager Kerry Fabrie said the microchip number recorded in the system had been entered incorrectly by staff in 2012 when Thomas was microchipped at the pound.

'Currently the 15 digit number is entered manually. As a result of this error we are looking into improvements like barcode scanners so this won't happen again.'

But this was little comfort to Young who adopted Thomas last year in July.

'It's terrible, it should never have happened. The heart break of having him for a year, you expect to have them for the rest of their life.

'Out of the blue you get a phone call saying we found the original owner and he was stolen. I wouldn't like it to happen to anyone else.'

Wilson admits if they had kept up with Thomas's registration it would have made it easier to find him. However a gut feeling her boy was still alive, and advice from a facebook posting, led Wilson to call Thames-Coromandel District Council animal control, two weeks ago, to check his number.

'She couldn't find nothing and I ended up giving her the name of my partner and the details of my bulldog.'

It was as simple as that - with a dog fitting Thomas' description showing up in the system with a one number microchip difference.

'Whoever put in his details from his chip, instead of putting in a three he put in a five in the system.'

With Thomas back at home Wilson said she hoped the changes South Waikato District Council animal control were making would make it better for someone else looking for their dog.

'You'll never know there might be a number wrong in their microchip as well.'