GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Police departments across Kent County are getting pet microchip scanners to help officers reunite lost pets with their owners.
The Kent County Animal Shelter is using part of a $4,700 grant from a local nonprofit to provide the scanners to local police departments.
Angela Hollinshead, the shelter’s director, said the idea emerged last year when a police agency picked up a stray dog and brought it to the animal shelter. The shelter’s staff scanned the animal, learned it had a microchip and contacted the owner.
“We said, ‘Hey, we have your dog at the shelter, we’d love for you to come and get him,’” Hollinshead recalled. “The gentleman replied, ‘I’m not in a position to do that, I have a transportation barrier.’”
The man lived in the outskirts of the county, Hollinshead said. Staff later learned his pet had been recovered just two doors down from his home but was taken all the way to the animal shelter in Grand Rapids.
“That really got us thinking, ‘Is there a way we can prevent things like this from happening?’” she said. “Is there a tool we can put in the hands of local law enforcement in the field before they get transported all the way to the shelter in Grand Rapids?”