Japan Lawmaker Group Eyes Mandatory Microchipping of Puppies, Kittens

July 1, 2018

Tokyo- A group of Japanese lawmakers from both ruling and opposition camps have drafted a bill calling for microchipping puppies and kittens to protect them from illicit deals, it was learned Saturday.

The group, led by former welfare minister Hidehisa Otsuji, aims to introduce the amendment bill to the animal protection law to an extraordinary Diet session likely to be held in autumn, they said.

The law basically bans breeders from selling puppies and kittens to dealers before they become eight weeks old, because separating such young animals from their parents tends to cause problematic behavior including biting.

But there actually are breeders who sell newly born dogs and cats to dealers and online transactions of those with diseases.

If the pets are microchipped, it will be easy to know how old they are and what kind of disease they have or had, the lawmakers said.

According to the draft bill, breeders will have the microchipping obligation. But it does not contain a punitive clause.

Whether to punish those who neglect the obligation will be considered later, they said.

According to the Environment Ministry, microchips containing information including birth dates, vaccination data the names of breeders and owners will be injected into puppies and kittens by veterinarians. The injection is estimated to cost less than 10,000 yen.

Once a chip is embedded, stored data cannot be rewritten, the ministry added. Jiji Press