Inverclyde Council to Introduce Deceased Pet Scanning
Before CatsMatter began campaigning, 14 councils in Scotland did not scan cats for microchips when they were tragically collected from the roadside. Now with the inclusion of another council last week, there are just 3 left to go.
Inverclyde council have listened to our pleas. We have been in contact with Inverclyde since late 2016. In earlier times, they were not particularly responsive to our advice to adopt a scanning approach. However, CatsMatter do not take no for an answer... because every cat matters.
Recently, we started new talks involving the Chief Executive of the council and , after discussions with Environmental and Commercial Services, Inverclyde have finally agreed to introduce scanners to the department.
They are currently awaiting the arrival of the equipment and training the staff on the new procedures. They have laid out to CatsMatter exactly what the new policy will entail, and we have confirmed our approval.
The new policy, expected to be fully operational in the new year, will look like this:
Where the street sweeping staff find a dead dog or cat, that will be returned to the depot to be followed up by a Foreman.
Where the animal has an ID Tag, contact will be made with the owner to make arrangements for them to collect it within 48 hours.
Where the animal does not have an ID Tag, it will be scanned for an embedded Microchip. If the scan is successful, officers will establish the last recorded contact details for an owner, contact will be made with the owner to make arrangements for them to collect the animal within 48 hours. The animal will be placed in a labelled bag and stored in a suitable place.
If the identified owner doesn’t want to collect the animal, if the animal is not collected as arranged, or if the animal has neither an ID tag nor a detected microchip, then it will be disposed of in accordance with existing Council procedure.
So please, join us in congratulating Inverclyde in taking such a positive step in the right direction. Talk about a good start to the year...
