Deadline today for cat owners to microchip pets or face fine

Sky News
Updated ·3-min read

Millions of cat owners in England face a fine of up to £500 if they fail to get their cat microchipped and registered on a database under new laws coming into force from today.

The legislation applies to cats aged 20 weeks and older - but of the estimated nine million pet cats in the country, up to 2.2 million are still not chipped, according to data from the charity Cats Protection.

It costs between £20 and £30 to have a cat microchipped by a vet, the charity said.

Around a quarter of owners who have failed to get their cats microchipped said it was because their pet does not venture outdoors, and around 14% said it was identifiable by its collar, according to research by the charity.

Owners found not to have microchipped their pet will have 21 days to have one implanted or face the financial penalty.

The mandatory scheme aims to make it easier for lost or stray pet cats to be reunited with their owners.

Madison Rogers, head of advocacy, campaigns and government relations for Cats Protection, said: "Some owners think they are never going to go through the trauma of losing their pet cat, but in the last year 115,000 pet cats in England went missing and never returned home.

"Cats are nimble and extremely agile and can easily slip out without us noticing.

"Many lost cats live a frightening life on the streets. No food, no water, no shelter, no veterinary care and constantly at risk of severe injury or death from many hazards such as cars and wild animals.

"Collars can easily drop off, become damaged so that the address details become unreadable and, if they are not quick release, can become snagged on obstacles like tree branches, causing injuries to the cat.

"A microchip is safe, stays with your cat for its lifetime and is linked to contact details that are stored safely in a database."

Nutmeg, a cat owned by Sandra Sinclair, a teacher from Tooting in south-west London, was found wandering the streets of Ascot in Berkshire, 30 miles away from home, after going missing.

The feline was reunited with his family after his microchip was scanned by Cats Protection.

Ms Sinclair said only Nutmeg will ever know how he got to Ascot, but added the family were "relieved" they had him microchipped.

Read more:
Microchipping pet cats - what you need to know

Alice Potter, cat welfare expert at the RSPCA, said: "We have seen cats coming into our care who are sadly not microchipped and may never be reunited with their owners.

"On average, 11% of all cats coming into the RSPCA's care are still not microchipped.

"We've also rescued cats who have been microchipped but the details haven't been kept up to date, which is arguably even more frustrating as it means cats spend a long time in our care whilst we fruitlessly try to contact the owner with out-of-date information.

"However, we've also seen countless stories of cats that have been reunited with their owners thanks to a tiny microchip - showing what this change of legislation will achieve for animal welfare."

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • Britain’s richest family Hindujas ‘spent more on dog than they paid servant’

    Namrata and Ajay Hinduja paid servant as little as £6.20 for 18-hour workdays, Swiss court told

  • Baby girl dies after being bitten by family dog at Coventry home

    The seven-month-old girl was mauled to death by her family dog at her home in Coventry on Sunday

  • Diplomats say at least 550 pilgrims died during hajj, mostly Egyptians

    Diplomats on Tuesday said at least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year.At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries' responses told AFP."All of them (the Egyptians) died because of heat" except for one who sustained fatal injuries during a minor crowd crush, one of the diplomats said, adding the total figure came from the hospital morgue in the Al-Muaisem neighbourhood of Mecca.At least 60 Jordanians also died, the diplomats said, up from an official tally of 41 given earlier on Tuesday by Amman.The new deaths bring the total reported so far by multiple countries to 577, according to an AFP tally.The diplomats said the total at the morgue in Al-Muaisem, one of the biggest in Mecca, was 550.The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims with the means must complete it at least once.The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study published last month that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) each decade.Temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday, the Saudi national meteorology centre said.- Heat stress -Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt's foreign ministry said Cairo was collaborating with Saudi authorities on search operations for Egyptians who had gone missing during the hajj.While a ministry statement said "a certain number of deaths" had occurred, it did not specify whether Egyptians were among them.Saudi authorities have reported treating more than 2,000 pilgrims suffering from heat stress but have not updated that figure since Sunday and have not provided information on fatalities.At least 240 pilgrims were reported dead by various countries last year, most of them Indonesians.AFP journalists in Mina, outside Mecca, on Monday saw pilgrims pouring bottles of water over their heads as volunteers handed out cold drinks and fast-melting chocolate ice cream to help them keep cool.Saudi officials had advised pilgrims to use umbrellas, drink plenty of water and avoid exposure to the sun during the hottest hours of the day.But many of the hajj rituals, including the prayers on Mount Arafat which took place on Saturday, involve being outdoors for hours in the daytime.Some pilgrims described seeing motionless bodies on the roadside and ambulance services that appeared overwhelmed at times.Around 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the hajj this year, 1.6 million of them from abroad, according to Saudi authorities.- Unregistered pilgrims -Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the hajj through irregular channels as they cannot afford the often costly procedures for official hajj visas.This places these off-the-books pilgrims at risk as they cannot access air-conditioned facilities provided by Saudi authorities along the hajj route.One of the diplomats who spoke to AFP on Tuesday said that the Egyptian death toll was "absolutely" boosted by a large number of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims."Irregular pilgrims caused great chaos in the Egyptian pilgrims' camps, causing the collapse of services," said an Egyptian official supervising the country's hajj mission."The pilgrims went without food, water, or air conditioning for a long time."They died "from the heat because most people had no place" to take shelter.Earlier this month, Saudi officials said they had cleared hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca ahead of the hajj.Other countries to report deaths during the hajj this year include Indonesia, Iran and Senegal.Most countries have not specified how many deaths were heat-related.Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel said on Tuesday that health plans for the hajj had "been successfully carried out", preventing major outbreaks of disease and other public health threats, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.Health officials "provided virtual consultations to over 5,800 pilgrims, primarily for heat-related illnesses, enabling prompt intervention and mitigating the potential for a surge in cases," SPA said.bur/jsa

  • 'Comfy, cool and doesn't wrinkle': This breezy summer top is just $22 (70% off!)

    It may look like linen, but this lightweight impostor stays a lot smoother, shoppers say — and there's no itching.

  • Grolar bear hybrids in N.W.T. all traced back to same 'strange' female polar bear

    A family of polar and grizzly bear hybrids, or grolars, in Canada's western Arctic — which all started with a "pretty strange" female polar bear — is "quite rare," according to a new study. The research paper, published last week in the journal Conservation Genetics Resources, used a new tool to look at samples from 371 polar bears and 440 grizzly bears across Canada, Alaska and Greenland. The samples had been collected between 1975 and 2015. Ruth Rivkin, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Un

  • Using fake nests to save rare bird from dying out

    Predation is seen as one of the biggest threats to the survival of the near-extinct capercaillie.

  • Heatwave kills dozens of homeless in India's capital, group says

    (Reuters) -The heatwave gripping northern India has killed nearly 200 homeless people in New Delhi over the last week, a group dedicated to helping the homeless said on Thursday, as the country grapples with record high summer temperatures. As many as 52 bodies were brought to hospitals in the past two days, the Times of India reported on Thursday, adding that most of them were poor people who lived and worked in the open. A total of 192 homeless people died in New Delhi between June 11 and June 19, according to government figures shared by non-profit organisation Centre for Holistic Development, higher than in previous years.

  • Birth of wildcat kittens in Kent wildlife park sparks hope for rarest UK mammal

    Wildwood Trust said the litter were born about nine weeks ago in a dedicated off-show breeding enclosure, to parents Talla and Blair.

  • Haj pilgrimage threatened as hundreds perish in heat

    STORY: Nearly 2 million Muslims will complete the haj pilgrimage this week, but extreme heat has been fatal for hundreds who started the journey last Friday, to the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.According to reports, at least 562 people have died during the haj. Egypt has reported 307 deaths and 118 missing, with temperatures hitting over 124 degrees Fahrenheit.The haj's timing is based on the lunar year, moving back 10 days each year.While the haj is now moving towards winter, it will occur in the peak of summer in Saudi Arabia by the 2040s.Climate scientist Fahad Saeed says these deaths hint at future risks for millions of haj pilgrims."We need to prepare, we need to adapt, we need to introduce the adaptation option as much as we can. While realizing that it will compromise on the centuries old ritual, but still we need to save people. But at the same time, we must do climate action to stop the global warming at 1.5 degrees centigrade. At anything beyond that, we are putting those pilgrims at the risk of death."Heat-related deaths during the haj have been recorded since the 1400s.Pilgrims' vulnerability stems from exertion, exposure, and older age, as well as a simple lack of acclimatization to the heat.According to Saudi officials last year, more than 2,000 people suffered from heat stress during that haj.A 2021 study in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that if global temperatures rise by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels, heat stroke risk for haj pilgrims will increase by five times.Still, pilgrims remain determined - for some, it's a one-in-a-lifetime affair."Haj is the fifth pillar of Islam and it is a mandatory duty for every capable person. So you have to exert efforts and get tired. Haj is a difficult task, so you have to exert efforts and perform the rituals even in the conditions of heat and crowding. You use an umbrella, drink water and pour it onto your body to prevent dehydration. And the water sprinklers in the walkways help."In 2016, Saudi Arabia implemented a heat strategy with shaded areas, water points at every 500 meters, and improved healthcare.Saudi health authorities advised pilgrims to stay hydrated and avoid outdoor activities from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. during this year's haj.

  • Air conditioning is 'exacerbating the climate crisis' but how many Europeans use it?

    Cooling machines are part of a vicious heating cycle.

  • 'How Did It Get Up There?': New 'Mysterious' Monolith Found in Nevada Desert

    The Las Vegas Police Department confirmed that the monolith was found along a popular hiking trail over the weekend

  • Dog Gets Fake Insulin Shot Like Diabetic Sister to Not Feel Left Out

    Daily insulin shots for a pet dog have become a cute ritual for a California couple, with their non-diabetic dog getting a fake shot too, so as not to feel left out.Daniel Ross, who captured the scene at home in California, told Storyful that the first dog, a miniature schnauzer named Jordan, has diabetes and “needs insulin shots twice a day”. His wife Joyce can be seen administering one in the video.Meanwhile, Bailey, their terrier-dachshund mix, “waits patiently behind to come up and get her fake shot, because she wants to be included.”Ross shared the cute footage on Instagram and wrote, “When one of your dogs needs meds, and the other wants ‘her meds’ as well.” Credit: Daniel Ross via Storyful

  • 6 Ways To Make an Extra $2,000 a Month Without Leaving Your House

    We live in the era of the side hustle -- it seems like everyone has something they do outside of their regular job to earn a few extra dollars. Unlike having a second job, the dream of any side...

  • How killer robot dogs could become weapons of mass destruction

    Of all the inventions in the dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror, perhaps none is more terrifying than the robotic guard dogs in Metalhead. In the episode, from the fourth series of the programme in 2017, Maxine Peake plays Bella, a woman who, along with two companions, breaks into a remote warehouse to look for medicine. Instead, she finds an autonomous “dog”, armed with a shotgun, knives and shrapnel sprays. It quickly kills both of her colleagues and chases Bella over the moorland with ruthl

  • Canal pipe breaks, threatening a northern Montana irrigation project and drinking water

    Two century-old steel pipes that help convey water from a river on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation to a river that helps irrigate northern Montana cropland have failed, causing local flooding and raising concerns about the availability of drinking water for at least 14,000 residents this summer, including in the city of Havre. The gushing of water caused some washouts 50 feet (15 meters) deep and destabilized the concrete footings holding a second pipe, which broke Monday afternoon, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said. Staff closed the headgates that diverted St. Mary River water into a 9-mile (14-kilometer) canal after the first pipe was breached, but the Bureau of Reclamation expected it to take up to 36 hours for that canal to drain through the broken pipes.

  • Wildlife fans urged to look out for baby hedgehogs

    A Leicestershire rescue centre urges people to act fast if they see hoglets during daylight hours.

  • For the endangered Nashville crayfish, its rebound is both good and bad news

    Dale McGinnity has been turning over rocks in Mill Creek to study the endangered Nashville crayfish for a decade. “Things are looking good so far,” said McGinnity, who works at the Nashville Zoo as curator of ectotherms, or cold-blooded creatures. “It’s been a really nice, maybe steady or slightly increasing population over those 10 years.”

  • Sicilian farmers on the frontline of climate change spotlighted by Earth Photo 2024 winner

    30 nature-loving photographers were shortlisted for the Earth Photo 2024 Award.

  • ‘Mysterious monolith’ spotted for first time since 2020 in Nevada desert

    Other versions of the 10ft-tall metal installation were found in places like Utah, California, Wales and Romania in 2020

  • At least 550 pilgrims died due to intense heat during hajj, diplomats say

    Diplomats on Tuesday said at least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year. At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries' responses told AFP."All of them (the Egyptians) died because of heat" except for one who sustained fatal injuries during a minor crowd crush, one of the diplomats said, addi