Chicago aldermen have cracked down on foie gras, public smoking, noisy street musicians and drivers yakking on cell phones.
Now they want to microchip Fido.
A City Council ordinance likely to face a Wednesday vote would require dog owners to have a microchip implanted in the scruff of a pet’s neck for identification purposes.
Advocates say such a requirement–already approved in places such as Los Angeles County and El Paso, Texas–would help dog owners recover lost animals and prosecute people who fight or abandon dogs. The chip can be identified only with a scanner held a few inches away and would be relatively affordable at about $40.
No longer content to confine themselves to demands that potholes be filled and streets clean and safe, aldermen seem increasingly eager to dabble in non-traditional territory.
Council members have floated proposals to ban restaurant chains from using cooking oils that contain trans fats, require cigarette vendors to display photos of diseased lungs prominently and outlaw the existence of pit bulls within city limits.
They also have threatened to use their legislative might to improve living standards for elephants and require taxi drivers to wear crisp white shirts and matching pants and socks.
The microchip ordinance is in keeping with that activist spirit.
But being compelled to thrust the chip, about the size of a grain of rice, into a pet is even worse than a 10 p.m. walk in 5-degree weather, said several dog owners frolicking with their pooches at Belmont Harbor on Monday afternoon.
“Why should they tell us to do that?” asked Dave Rinaldi, 59, a pediatrician out with his wife to walk two of their five dogs, all of which were strays. “They get their shots every year; we keep them on a leash and pick up their poop. That makes us responsible. Anything more should be up to the dog owner.”
The law would carry a fine ranging between $50 and $200.
Even dog owners who already have sunk microchips into their pets say the law is too invasive.
Jennifer Beston, 30, hasn’t regretted having a microchip inserted in her 2-year-old boxer-lab, Chloyie, more than a year ago, but she said she wouldn’t want to be forced to do so.
“If you’re a good dog owner, I think you’d want to do it anyway,” she said. “But it’s like the whole smoking in a bar thing, which I wouldn’t like if I owned a bar.”
Lisa Peterson, a spokeswoman for the American Kennel Club, was also skeptical, though she supports microchipping animals.
“All responsible dog owners should permanently ID their pets, whether it’s by microchip or tattooing,” she said. “But as a dog owner I like to be in charge of my property, and the owners should be responsible for all decisions. That includes microchipping.”
State law mandates that stray dogs get microchipped, but the council’s proposal likely would be Illinois’ only across-the-board ordinance, said Colleen O’Keefe, division manager for food, safety and animal protection for the state Department of Agriculture.
“I think it’s a great idea,” she said. “Any dog that goes through my house gets microchipped, but most people don’t like to be told what to do. It’ll be up to the public how they feel about it.”
Heard on Monday before the city’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection, the provision would take effect 90 days after approval by the full City Council. Committee Chairman Eugene Schulter (47th) said he expects the vote to take place Wednesday after an ad hoc committee spent two years addressing pet-related issues.
Other new provisions include new licensing categories for grooming facilities, guard dog services and pet day-care facilities. Also included is a new ordinance that sets guidelines for tethering dogs, including setting a time limit of three hours and mandating access to food, water and shelter.
More Top Picks Best Portable Refrigerators
Schulter touted the microchips as a means to reunite lost dogs and their owners, noting that many pets were separated from their owners permanently during Hurricane Katrina.
“If they get lost or if there’s some type of problem, we’ll be able to know who the owners are by requiring the microchipping,” Schulter said.
Anne Kent, executive director of Chicago Animal Care and Control, said public education will be important for obtaining compliance. She said the city has an estimated 300,000 dogs, but only 30,000 have licenses.
A McHenry County Board committee was scheduled to hear a similar proposal Monday night, which would require dogs and cats to get microchips. For the last several years, McHenry County Animal Control has been putting microchips under the skin of dogs and cats up for adoption at its shelter. Last year, 281 animals had the chips implanted.
“Tags come off sometimes,” said Patrick McNulty, director of the county’s Department of Public Health, which oversees Animal Control. “If an animal is involved in a bite situation, we can identify it. But mostly, it’s to return your animal to you.”
———-