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U.S. Bill Includes RFID Provision for Pets
All of these interrogators can read 125 kHz tags. Some are designed to read both frequencies, but in certain cases they do not, which means shelters and vets might need to have multiple readers on hand to identify a pet's ID; otherwise, a lost pet with an unreadable tag might not be identified and reunited with its owner.
Banfield Pet Hospital, based in Portland, Ore., operates a national network of pet care centers. In January 2004, it began offering a pet tagging and registration service using 134.2 kHz ISO tags. It also distributed an unsubstantiated number of 134.2 kHz interrogators to shelters so officials would have a means of reading the tags. In March of 2004, a dog with a 134.2 kHz tag was euthanized in a Virginia shelter because the shelter did not use the proper reader and, thus, did not find the dog's tag. The shelter reportedly had one of the Banfield 134.2 kHz readers, but did not use it on the lost pet. Banfield placed its tagging service on hold in May 2004. A spokesperson says that while the euthanization of the dog in Virgina was not the main reason Banfield stopped tagging, it did highlight a lack of awareness among shelter staff about the use of 134.2 kHz tags and readers.
The two major vendors of 125 kHz tags and readers for pet ID in the United States are AVID Identification Systems and Digital Angel. AVID encrypts the data it encodes to its pet ID tags. If a lost pet implanted with an encrypted AVID tag is brought to a shelter or vet, most readers will read the tag's encrypted ID number but won't be able to decrypt it unless the reader has a special algorithm. This forces the shelter or vet to contact AVID and provide it with the encrypted ID. AVID then provides the decrypted ID number so the shelter or vet can look it up in an AVID-operated database to locate the pet's owner. This workaround is problematic because it requires shelters and vets to spend extra time identifying pets.
In 2004, a number of nonprofit pet welfare organizations, including the Humane Society, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the American Humane Association, formed a group called the Coalition for Reunited Pets and Families. The group began requesting that RFID manufacturers and vendors provide shelters, animal control officers and veterinarians with interrogators able to identify all tags, regardless of frequency and encryption. As such, one reader could quickly and easily identify any tagged pet anywhere in the country.
Banfield Pet Hospital, based in Portland, Ore., operates a national network of pet care centers. In January 2004, it began offering a pet tagging and registration service using 134.2 kHz ISO tags. It also distributed an unsubstantiated number of 134.2 kHz interrogators to shelters so officials would have a means of reading the tags. In March of 2004, a dog with a 134.2 kHz tag was euthanized in a Virginia shelter because the shelter did not use the proper reader and, thus, did not find the dog's tag. The shelter reportedly had one of the Banfield 134.2 kHz readers, but did not use it on the lost pet. Banfield placed its tagging service on hold in May 2004. A spokesperson says that while the euthanization of the dog in Virgina was not the main reason Banfield stopped tagging, it did highlight a lack of awareness among shelter staff about the use of 134.2 kHz tags and readers.
The two major vendors of 125 kHz tags and readers for pet ID in the United States are AVID Identification Systems and Digital Angel. AVID encrypts the data it encodes to its pet ID tags. If a lost pet implanted with an encrypted AVID tag is brought to a shelter or vet, most readers will read the tag's encrypted ID number but won't be able to decrypt it unless the reader has a special algorithm. This forces the shelter or vet to contact AVID and provide it with the encrypted ID. AVID then provides the decrypted ID number so the shelter or vet can look it up in an AVID-operated database to locate the pet's owner. This workaround is problematic because it requires shelters and vets to spend extra time identifying pets.
In 2004, a number of nonprofit pet welfare organizations, including the Humane Society, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the American Humane Association, formed a group called the Coalition for Reunited Pets and Families. The group began requesting that RFID manufacturers and vendors provide shelters, animal control officers and veterinarians with interrogators able to identify all tags, regardless of frequency and encryption. As such, one reader could quickly and easily identify any tagged pet anywhere in the country.
