Op-Ed: Call to microchip the entire population

On the BBC’s 'Breakfast' news programme this morning, a woman called to microchip the entire population; the good news is that she was talking about dogs. For now.

According to the Dogs Trust, more than 5% of the stray dog population is put down (murdered, to you) because these sad pooches cannot be rehomed – around 345 are picked up off the streets everyday. Imagine if they did that to people? The organisation is calling for the government to make microchipping compulsory, a process that it says could save the taxpayer £20 million, presumably a year. An alternative would be to kill all stray dogs; perhaps they could even be used for meat; they are after all regarded as a delicacy in certain countries. Leaving that aside, from whence does this figure come? Apparently, in this age of manufactured austerity, people are increasingly dumping their dogs, and in cases where reluctant owner and pooch are reunited, they simply deny ownership. As the lady on the programme said, microchipping would not afford people this luxury. Although this is a sound suggestion as far as a means to an end, it is a slippery slope. So far there have been no calls from the Society For Dog Liberties, or the Dog Liberation Front to oppose these Draconian measures, but no doubt we can expect to see some comment from David Icke in due course, who will undoutedly explain how the Illuminati plans first to microchip our dogs, and then us.