Gwangju City Supports Pet Dog Registration Fees... Targeting a Total of 5,000 Animals

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 21st that it will implement the ‘Pet Dog Animal Registration Fee Support Project.’

This project provides 30,000 KRW to pet owners who register their dogs aged over 2 months using the implantable chip method, and it will be implemented for the first time for up to 5,000 dogs.

The support target is pet owners whose resident registration address is in Gwangju City and who register their animals with implantable chips starting from the 1st of next month.

The application procedure requires the pet owner to visit a veterinary hospital to register the animal with an implantable chip, fill out the support application form at the veterinary hospital, and then the relevant district office will deposit the support fund into the pet owner’s account. Support can be received for up to three dogs per person.

The animal registration system is a system where anyone who owns a pet dog can register the animal through an animal registration agency (veterinary hospital) so that the dog can be easily found if lost. Pet owners can choose between an external type, which is an electronic tag worn on the neck, and an implantable type, which is a microchip inserted into the body.

The external type, which is a collar form, can be easily removed and thus has less effect in preventing abandoned animals, but it is more than twice as cheap as the implantable type, so many pet owners use it. On the other hand, the implantable type, which inserts a microchip into the body, tends to be avoided due to some pet owners’ incorrect information about side effects and because it is more expensive than the external type.

For these reasons, although the animal registration system has been in place since 2013, Gwangju City’s animal registration rate is lower than the national average, and the number of abandoned animals has actually increased every year. Therefore, a policy was introduced to support part of the registration fee to pet owners when registering with implantable chips, which is the most effective method to prevent abandoned animals.

Kim Hyun-jung, Director of the Life Agriculture Division of the city, said, “There have been almost no side effects from implanting the implantable chip over the past eight years of animal registration promotion, so its safety has been sufficiently proven.” He added, “We ask pet owners to register their animals with implantable chips without worry to prevent abandoned animals and to enjoy a safe daily life with their dogs.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.