ABSTRACT:

On March 8, a Lab-collie mix named Mandy disappeared from her backyard in Greenville, S.C., leaving her collar and tags behind. Nine days later, she was positively identified – 679 miles away from hone – near New York’s Niagara Falls. A miracle? No, but for pet-owners, something close to one – a microchip.

Fortunately for Mandy and her distraught owner, Angela Real, the lost Lab had been implanted with a microchip, encoded with an ID number. Real immediately called the company that manufactures these chips to report her missing dog.

Here’s how it works: A chip, no bigger than a grain of rice, is injected subcutaneously – between the animal’s skin and muscle layer – with a hypodermic needle.

The chip contains a tracking number – like a bar code – that’s stored in the microchip manufacturer’s database.

According to Larry Higgins of Home Again, the Minnesota-based company at the forefront of the microchip technology, “the chip is 100 percent with host tissue, so there’s no reaction on the part of the implanted pet.”