The nonprofit donates equipment to help reunite lost pets with families

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) – A non-profit with a mission to help reunite lost pets with their families donated a specific took to the Chippewa County Sheriff’s office, microchip scanners.

“They’re easy to use. You hover the device over the animal and it will beep and identify a chip if one is implanted,” said Sheriff Travis Hakes.

He said everyone should keep in mind the scanner only works if your pet is chipped.

“If they have a chip in them it quickly allows us to identify an owner as opposed to before where we have to transport them to a facility to hold on to,” said Sheriff Hakes.

Lost Dogs of Wisconsin is a free resource working to help reunite you with a lost dog.

Director Kathy Pobloskie said it might get expensive if your pet is taken to an area shelter as a stray.

“When they take them in they also have to vaccinate them and other things like that. And usually that cost is turned back to the owner. Having the scanners in the hands of the sheriff’s deputies can really help get the pet home quickly,” said Pobloskie.

Sheriff Hakes said right now the scanners are not ready for use.

“We haven’t been able to implement them yet because there’s some trial and error and training that goes along with it,” said Sheriff Hakes.

When the training was done however, the sheriff said he would like to help out neighboring counties as well.

“We’re also going to reach out to neighboring agencies and allow them to utilize the equipment as well,” said Sheriff Hakes.

In addition to the scanner donation, Lost Dogs of Wisconsin also contributes to microchip clinics.

“We also donate microchips to animal shelters and public events so we can get as many microchipped dogs as we can,” said Pobloskie.

She said the non-profit looks to donate more scanners to other law enforcement agencies in the future.

Another very important step people need to take with a pet microchip is making sure the information connected to the chip is up-to-date.

If you move of change your phone number, you will need to update that information.

You can usually do that on the microchip’s website.

Copyright 2023 WEAU. All rights reserved.