Dog ID law gets farmers hot under collar

Farm lobbyists are taking a second bite at rejecting new legislation which requires all dogs first registered after July 1 to be implanted with a microchip to identify them.

South Canterbury farmers have called on Federated Farmers' national organisation to mount a civil disobedience campaign, urging farmers to ignore the microchipping law.

"Farmers are sick and tired of forever being told what they can and have to do," said South Canterbury Federated Farmers meat and fibre producers chairman Alistair Young. "It is time for some militant action."

And Gisborne-Wairoa Federated Farmers president Jean Martin told the Gisborne Herald that she expected non-compliance from many farmers.

"I know a number of farmers who are just not going to do it," she said.

"Shepherds have teams of seven to 10 dogs - imagine the cost for these young guys."

A count-up at morning tea during a muster on one big station in the region added up more than 100 dogs.

The new requirement under Section 36 of the Dog Control Act - which would allow instant identification after an attack - was framed after a series of dog attacks, including one on Carolina Anderson, then aged 7, who was severely mauled in a central Auckland park in 2003.

Federated Farmers unsuccessfully tried to change the Government's mind on the issue in the run-up to last year's general election.

Its president, Charlie Pedersen, claimed that microchipping would do nothing to stop dog attacks but the added cost would discourage people from registering their dogs.

If 60,000 farm dogs were chipped each year - with a tiny microchip inserted just under the skin - it could cost $3 million to $7 million, he said, rejecting a Government estimate of $30 or less for the microchips.

He claimed the true cost of chip insertion and data registration was likely to be more than $50 and could be as high as $110 a dog, and this would represent high costs for shepherds who had 10 or 15 dogs.

The Government has said that the existing 150,000 farm dogs will not have to be microchipped unless they are dangerous, menacing or caught roaming.

And because the Dog Control Act does not require vets to insert the chips, farmers might be able to cut the cost by electronically tagging their dogs themselves, or have it done by a council worker.

Mrs Martin said farmers still had to pay registration fees, with big discrepancies around the country.

In Gisborne and Wairoa registration for a working farm dog was $35, Hawkes Bay $60, Canterbury $27 for the first dog and $7 for every other dog and in Marlborough it cost $7.

Gisborne District Council chief animal control officer Pat Collins said the dog registration fees there were structured so owners paid for the total cost of dog control.

In some districts the cost of dog control was added to rates.

National Party agriculture spokesman David Carter is promoting a private member's bill to have farm dogs excluded from microchipping.

New Zealand Veterinary Association chief executive officer Murray Gibb said the charges would probably range between $35 and $75.

The cost of a microchip was between $7 and $12 and there were no restrictions about who could insert a chip into a dog. It came as a do-it-yourself-kit.

- NZPA