It has been anounced that from 2016 all dogs wil have to be microchipped with their owner's details and owners who don't comply will face a £500 fine. The change in the law will be effective from 6th April 2013.  Owners of animals found to be unchipped will have a short period of time to have the dog chipped. How such owners will be traced is not known. The RSPCA have reacted to the news with some caution stating that while it might help reunite owners with lost or stolen pets mocrichipping will achieve little on its own in preventing dog attacks. The RSPCA noted that the number of warnings issued to dog owners because of poor welfare had increased by 12% in the last year while in the last 4 years there had been a 26% rise in dog bites requiring hospital treatment. Eight children and six adults have been killed in dog attacks since 2005 and in the last 12 months 3,000 postal workers were attacked. The government have said they are also looking at amending the Dangerous Dogs Act so that owners can be prosecuted if their dog attacks on privately owned land while protecting them if the dog attacks a b          

GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCE DOG MICROCHIPPING WILL BE COMPULSORY
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