DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Army Sgt. Frank Escamilla worked with 13-year-old volunteer Lindsey Rolfe to prepare a Shar Pei for corrective surgery on its eyelids last month. Army veterinarians, who work with animals from all military branches in Hawaii, may soon start placing microchips in the pets of Army soldiers living on base.

Army considers
pet ID policy

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The Army is studying the possibility of requiring soldiers who live on base to implant microchips in pet dogs and cats.

Lt. Col. David Rolfe, commander of the Army's Central District Veterinary Command, said the proposed regulation is more for animal control than owner control.

Other mainland Army posts like Fort Carson in Colorado have required residents since 1998 to have microchips put into their pets to prevent owners from abandoning them when they are forced to transfer.

The garrison commander at Fort Carson said his post was having problems not only with abandoned pets, but with stolen pets and with people denying ownership of dogs that attacked other dogs or people.

Right now, 35 installations from all services have made microchips in pets a requirement. However, that is not the case in Hawaii. The Pentagon gives each base commander the discretion to determine whether microchips should be mandatory.

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM An identification microchip, along with the needle used to implant it, sits alongside a quarter for scale. At right is a hand-held scanner that detects and decodes the ID data from the chip. The numbers will correlate to a specific pet's identity in a database.

Agnes Tauyan, Navy spokeswoman, said: "All Navy family housing residents are encouraged to exercise responsible pet ownership. Although the Navy in Hawaii does not require implanted microchips in pets, service members moving to Hawaii are required by the state Department of Agriculture to have their dogs and cats microchips implanted before applying for a 30-day quarantine program. Navy members have the option of bringing their pets to a private doctor or to an Army or Air Force veterinarian."

The Air Force at Hickam Air Force Base also does not have a microchip requirement.

Rolfe, an Army veterinarian for the past 16 years, said the Army in Hawaii is the only branch that has veterinarians who perform work for all military services in Hawaii.

He believes there is no major problem with military families abandoning their pets when they leave.

Rolfe said he heard the same complaint when he was stationed in Germany.

"I believe service members are getting a bad rap which they don't deserve," said Rolfe, who graduated from Kansas State Veterinary School in 1986. "Many soldiers care for their pets in the same way they take care of their families. They are a member of the family."

On the mainland, a pack of feral Chows abandoned at Fort Benning in Georgia prowl the pine forests near the infantry base, living off dead animals, and last March attacked a jogger.

Rolfe does acknowledge that Hawaii has "a huge feral cat problem."

"There is a huge indigenous feral cat population," Rolfe said, "which has been able to breed and multiply, and the military isn't responsible for that."

At Louisiana's Fort Polk, the microchips are used to track down soldiers who have abandoned their pets. When caught, the soldiers are forced to pay an adoption fee and the cost of any necessary vaccinations, totaling $20 to $40.

In Hawaii, Rolfe believes that such a practice would be more for "the owner's peace of mind."

"If the person loses a pet," he said, "the animal's collar or tag can be easily taken off. Even tattooing a number in the pet's ear can be altered."

Placing a microchip which is the size of a grain of rice is simple and painless," Rolfe said. "It is less painful than a vaccination. It can be done a few seconds."

The chip is injected under the skin of an animal's neck and contains a bar code with nine numbers and the manufacturer's name. All veterinary clinics and humane societies have readers that can scan and display the number in the microchip.

The owner has to fill out a registration card and mail it to the manufacturer so it can be entered into the company's data base.

The procedure will cost the soldier $15, which includes the registration cost. This means the pet's owner's name, address and phone can be updated for free when the soldier moves.

Last year, the Army at its four clinics implanted 55 microchips at Fort Shafter; 202 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Kaneohe Bay; 505 at Schofield Barracks; and 337 at Hickam Air Force Base.

Rolfe notes that many military pets already arrive with microchip implants if they are brought under the state's 30-day quarantine program. That is because to qualify under the shorter quarantine program, all incoming cats and dogs must have a microchip implanted before or when the pet's blood is collected for a rabies test.