Op-Ed: All dogs now to be microchipped by law — humans next?

As of next year it will be a criminal offence not to microchip your pet pooch. This is being mooted as a means of clamping down on dangerous dogs. But what about dangerous people?

In September 2011, it was reported there was a call to microchip the entire dog population. This is now to become law as of April 2016, reported the BBC Breakfast news this morning. This will necessitate changes to the Animal Welfare Act, but for those who have neither the time nor the nous to wade through page after page of legal jargon, the Beeb has very kindly provided a FAQ called simply Q&A: Dog microchipping. The organisation behind this legislation appears to be the Dogs Trust, and one of the rationales for the exercise is that it will help control dangerous dogs. There will though be those who see another, and far more sinister agenda behind it. After all, if it is compulsory to microchip Man's best friend, why not Man himself? Fifty years ago, even thirty years ago, it was easy to laugh at such suggestions, but today, even though this Grand Conspiracy stuff is peddled by all manner of charlatans, mystics and chancers, there are those in high places who would have it so. There have already long been suggestions that children should be microchipped, and indeed low risk offenders are routinely tagged electronically. Now, if low risk offenders can be tagged, then logically why not high risk offenders? Why not “extremists”, which can include almost anyone? We can only hope that this apparently benign practice - when applied to dogs and livestock - remains where it is, in the animal kingdom. For now.