Microchipping is a simple, minimally invasive procedure that dramatically improves welfare outcomes for lost, stray, and stolen companion animals.
The welfare benefits of microchipping operate at population scale: animals that become separated from owners face starvation, road accident, exposure, and impoundment. Reunification through microchipping avoids all these welfare harms. Beyond reunification, microchipping creates an ownership record that can deter theft and abandonment. The tiny welfare cost of insertion is vastly outweighed by the welfare protection it provides throughout the animal's life.