• 
• 

Published on October 13, 2007

My sympathy was with the dogs. I felt that a scene where fluffy animals had to go under the knife and have an alien object implanted in them would be too graphic to bear.

Nonetheless, thanks to the "MadooMadoo" video clip on The Nation's weblog, I kind of got the picture of what happened on that day. MadooMadoo showed lots of noise and dog hair in an odd combination of Lassie and Nip And Tuck.

Now, I will put the scene into words so you can feel the pain of man's best friends paying for sins they didn't commit. Bark. Bark.

At City Hall, hordes of masters and mutts flooded in to be first to get the 50,000 free microchips on offer. The scene was bedlam, with dogs barking, growling and howling all over. There were Rotweillers, Dalmatians, Alsations, and pure-bred and mongrel pooches. Some were perplexed by the objective of the congregation. Some were wagging their tails in excitement. Only their masters knew what was about happen. So they were seen comforting their charges by patting their heads. A lady announcer was trying to tell them that resistance was futile because these microchips would eventually be implanted in all dogs.

But some dogs apparently knew what was going to happen. They were trying to run away after seeing their friends limping out of the surgery room. Who could blame them? The tiny devices will not only rob them of their "privacy" but also irritate their ears.

The census bureau revealed that there were a total of 830,000 pet dogs in Bangkok last year, compared to 130,000-140,000 strays on the streets. Most had been abandoned by their masters. The BMA said that if it could control pet owners, the population of stray dogs would be reduced.

Stray dogs are not always liked because they can be very scary. They bite people and make mess on the pavements, not to mention the fact that few of them have ever been vaccinated against canine diseases.

With the implants, the BMA hopes that people will have second thoughts before deciding to throw out the puppy. All the important information about the master's identity is recorded in the chips. If the BMA finds any stray dog and wants to trace its origin, they will be able to do so by simply reading the data embedded close to the dog's ears. The chips won't lie.

The chips have been introduced in line with the new BMA regulation imposing tighter controls on the stray dog population. For instance, those who feed the stray dogs will be considered "the owner" of the animals. And they may be subject to a two-month jail term and/or a fine of no more than Bt5,000 for failing to get the microchip implanted.

When the BMA announced it would take serious action against stray dogs, the dog-loving community went into panic. The Pantip website was bombarded with messages from outraged members of the dog-loving public. A dog owner questioned the effects of the chip on her Dalmatian's hearing: "Even without the chip, the dog hardly hears anything I say, anyway." Another dog owner said she heard a rumour that irritation caused by the chip may lead to cancer (for the dog, not the owner, of course).

Like any law, there are several areas that are subject to interpretation. For instance, dogs that work in the government service will be exempt from the microchip requirement, raising the question of discrimination among dogs. Then there's the jurisdiction and geographical limits of the law. What if a dog steps beyond the Bangkok boundary into Nonthaburi province? Which law would be applied for this dog? And there's also the question of whether the offspring of a government-employed dog will be considered as a government dog or a pet dog.

The doggie fact is that although the goal is to embed all pet dogs with a microchip, the real objective is to find irresponsible people who simply let their dog loose once it has outgrown the puppy stage and their affections have waned.

Instead of punishing dogs, perhaps a better idea would be to implant the owners so the BMA pet detectives could track their whereabouts. Some of these people love to sneak into the temple compounds during the wee hours to abandon their dogs to the generosity of the monks. These irresponsible masters should be hunted down.

If this shaggy dog story can serve as any lesson, it is that what we do to man's best friend can also be applied to our "masters and servants" scenario in real life.

Khun Piset, one of the respondents to MadooMadoo, suggested: "Going one step further, we should consider implanting microchips in policemen, civil servants and MPs, so that tax payers know where these 'servants' are and what they are doing for their 'masters' (the people) at all times."

If you agree with this, hands up. Or just wag your tail. 

 Jeerawat Na Thalang

The Nation