Mandatory microchips: How the new city ordinance may affect Wichita pet owners

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Wichita City Council approved new regulations for pet owners this week . One major change is an amendment to pet microchipping.

It costs about $20, and your pet doesn’t need to be put under. It’s injected like a vaccine. The city council is also looking into grants to help pay for some of the costs. The goal: lowering euthanasia rates in overpopulated shelters.

“A microchip would be able to tell me exactly who this is, and I can actually look it up,” Jordan Bani-Younes, director of communications and marketing at Kansas Humane Society, said while scanning the chip in a small kitten.

It took less than ten seconds, and that can make a world of difference.

“It’s a small, little, tiny piece of technology. It’s meant to last about 25 years, and again, dogs are 2.5 times more likely to go home, cats are 20 times more likely,” Bani-Younes said.

The Kansas Humane Society says that one in three pets will be lost in their lifetime. Microchips drastically increase the likelihood of finding a pet. Wichita District 3 City Councilman Mike Hoheisel says that it’s one of the best options for combatting pet overpopulation.

“The vast majority of animals that we have at the shelter, we have no idea who they belong to. The vast majority are not chipped so they simply just sit in kennels,” Hoheisal said.

Kennels that don’t need to be full.

Meanwhile, across the street from KHS, Mel Thorpe plays with his dog, Ruby, in a dog park. He says she has been chipped since she was a puppy.

“I would be on a mission to find out where she’s at, you know?” Thorpe said. “Well, I think that if you lost your dog, and you care about your dog – and hopefully you do – that you will have the security feeling … that your dog brought back to you.”

He says that, while he’s never lost his dog, knowing she’s chipped brings him peace of mind.

“Get your pets back to you. That’s all we want at KHS and that’s what the city ordinance is meant for,” Bani-Younes said.

Reuniting pets with their owners is one of the best ways to create space for animals to be adopted—not killed.

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