Council quiet on microchipping of dogs

When the chips are down ? particularly when they're going down the scruff of a dog's neck ? local authorities don't like to encourage law-breaking.
That is presumably the explanation for the Wanganui District Council's virtual silence on microchipping, which could become a legal obligation for many dog owners from July 1.
Pockets of rural New Zealand, including their district councils, are infuriated by the new law.
In a Wairarapa Times-Age report, for instance, the Masterton District Council is said to be teetering on the brink of an act of civil disobedience by telling its dog control staff to treat microchipping as a low priority.
The council's legally-trained chief executive, Wes ten Hove, asked himself whether staff could be instructed on priorities for administration of legislative obligations.
"The answer must be in the affirmative," he said. "The council on behalf of its community can advocate and represent a political position on this legislation and has a number of avenues open to it to express such a position," Mr ten Hove said.
Prompted by a councillor's call to protest against microchipping dogs, especially working dogs, Mr ten Hove has been investigating just how far his council can go and still stay within the law.
Resistance to microchipping is gaining traction in Taranaki too.
Stratford District Council regulatory manager Mike Avery, according to the Taranaki Daily News, is calling microchipping "a dog."
His council plans to enforce microchipping only on dangerous or menacing dogs.
Stratford Mayor Brian Jeffares: "We're trying to be as flexible as we can without breaking the law."
South Taranaki Mayor Mary Bourke reportedly said microchipping would make no difference to irresponsible owners of unregistered dogs.
A vote is due in Parliament next month on an omnibus local government bill including amendments to the Dog Control Act.
According to New Zealand Herald political editor Audrey Young, the Government is staring at an embarrassing defeat over its refusal to exempt farm dogs from microchipping.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says she cannot see the purpose of forcing farm dogs to be microchipped.
"And, to be honest, I can't really see the purpose of it for other dogs, because responsible dog owners do register their dogs."
When an item about dog control fees and service levels went before the Wanganui council's rural community board last week, microchipping barely rated a mention. Regulatory services manager Bob Davies said there would be additional costs associated with microchipping, but did not detail them.
Wanganui's community development committee is scheduled tomorrow to discuss a proposed increase in registration fees though the rural board contends the fee for working dogs should not increase.
As it stands, the microchipping requirement will apply where dogs are being registered for the first time or are classified as menacing or dangerous or have been impounded while not registered.
In Wanganui's case there's a proverb? "least said, soonest mended."