A bill that will require stray animals to be scanned for microchips twice is now heading to Governor Pat Quinn’s desk and will be awaiting a final signature after the Memorial Day holiday.
The bill will also require that shelter workers and veterinarians attempt to call owners within 24 hours of finding an animal.
Under current Illinois law, shelters are only required to scan for a microchip once.
In the new bill, if a microchip is found, the shelter must “make every reasonable attempt” to reach the owner of the animal. The shelter must inform the owner that the animal will be euthanized or put up for adoption. The new law specifically requires that a shelter send a letter to the owner's last known address.
Sen. Pam Althoff, R-McHenry, introduced the bill.
Roma Wilkins of Wheaton said, “I think that she (Sen. Pam Althoff) had good intentions with this bill. But realistically, by the time a letter gets forwarded to the owner of a lost pet, it may have already been killed. I think they should pass a law that requires a longer waiting period before the execution of these helpless dogs and cats.”
The bill requires that shelters call, email or use any other contact information provided by the microchip, even if the owners never registered the microchip and only the veterinarian’s information is available.
Wilkins, a longtime volunteer at local rescues and shelters, said, “Area shelters already do everything laid out in the bill, and its passage will not change their procedures. We really need stronger legislation. I can’t say it enough. They don’t give enough time to animals in county shelters to reunite with their owners before they kill them.”
Chicago area animal shelters claim that they are scanning all over the animal’s body in case the microchip (smaller than a grain of rice) moved in positioning over time.
The bill calls for a secondary scanning with a universal scanner before an animal is euthanized, transferred to another shelter or put up for adoption. In many cases, the average shelter’s scanner cannot read the microchips.
Animal microchips come in many different frequencies. Use of a universal scanner, as proposed in the bill, will be able to read any microchip.
Sen. Althoff said she realizes “that most shelters already take the steps laid out in the bill but she wanted to make sure every shelter in the state would be held to the same standard.”
The senator also said she has “heard from pet advocate groups who were concerned that some shelters weren’t doing everything they could to reunite lost pets with their owners.”
The bill has animal rescue volunteers and workers talking all across Chicagoland.
Ron DeLancy, from suburban Wheaton, volunteers with shelters in his free time.
Delancy said, “It’s a good bill and I think it is a step in the right direction. But what this Republican senator needs to realize is that not everyone in our state is wealthy. People move all the time because they lose their jobs, get their house foreclosed on, or have other hardships. She should have introduced into the bill additional time be given before the animals are put up for adoption or euthanized. We are in an economic hardship in this country and killing someone’s pet because they didn’t get a letter in time is just not right. Overall, a good bill. But we have a long way to go.”
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