Bernie the diminutive Chihuahua had a big problem.  His owner decided she could no longer keep him and turned him into local animal control.  He was scheduled for euthanasia, having no hope of his owner reclaiming him. Unless he was adopted quickly, he would be put down to create room for strays picked up by county officers.  Even though he was a sweet, lovable and highly adoptable dog, local animal control simply did not have the facilities to keep him for an extended period of time.

While processing the dog for intake, the shelter scanned Bernie for a microchip.  It was part of their routine, even though he had been turned in by his owner.  The scan detected a microchip.  It was registered to his original caregivers, the Forsyth County Humane Society (HSFC), our local no-kill animal shelter.  HSFC policy is to readmit any animal adopted from their program no matter the situation.  The only problem was the adopting owner surrendered the dog to animal control in another state!

Forsyth County is blessed to have a number of wonderful people ready to volunteer on a moment’s notice.  Several hours and barrages of emails after being notified of Bernie’s predicament, a Knoxville local who is also a friend of our Humane Society rescued him from death row.  By the following weekend he was back at our shelter, ready to find his forever home.  You can learn more about Bernie and our other pets available at www.forsythpets.org.

Three great reasons to microchip your pet include…

1. Stories like Bernie’s.
2. Ninety percent of animals that get lost without proper identification are never found or returned home.  Every year more than three million cats and dogs are euthanized in animal shelters each year, roughly half of those brought there.  Conversely, the two largest microchip makers report almost eight hundred thousand pets are reunited with their owners thanks to a microchip approximately the size of a grain of rice.  Animal shelters, Humane Societies and many veterinarians across the country are equipped with universal scanners able to detect these microchips, provided one has been installed.
3. And one Lucky dog.

Lucky stumbled into the barn of a kind older couple in rural North Carolina one snowy winter night.  Shivering from the cold, he sought warmth in the only shelter he could find.  One might say Lucky got “lucky”.  The wife knew about microchips and took Lucky to a nearby vet, who scanned him and found a chip registered to the HSFC.  Volunteers retrieved him and the HSFC tried to contact his adoptive parents, but they had moved and could not be located.  Nevertheless Lucky soon found a new home with a “young” retired gentleman in a wonderful cabin on Lake Lanier.  Microchips allow many other dogs to be reunited each year by the Humane Society.  Caring people regularly bring strays to our adoption center to be scanned.  A microchipped dog is usually reunited with his owner within 24 hours.  These two stories defied those odds but still ended happily, thanks to a microchip.

The Humane Society of Forsyth County urges everyone to microchip your pet.  You might be saving his or her life! 

Written By: Mr. John Leonard, Board of Directors, Volunteer Chairperson