Maricopa County Animal Care & Control (MCACC) will be offering free microchips at both shelter locations through the end of the year in hopes of keeping more dogs with their owners.
Nearly 13,000 animals have arrived at MCACC so far this year; the majority of those dogs were stray. MCACC believes microchipping pets is one of the easiest ways to prevent shelter overcrowding.
“We have been functioning with 900+ dogs for several weeks now, and simply put, we’re out of kennels,” said Kim Powell, MCACC’s Communications Supervisor. “The majority of the stray dogs that come into the shelter don’t have a microchip or any other form of identification, which makes it hard for them to be returned to their owner, therefore they stay at the shelter and contribute to the capacity issue.”
