| Well traveled
pooches' owners sought |
By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News
December 18, 2007
TEXAS CITY — Animal-control
officers picked up a pair of pampered pooches last week, but the microchips
embedded in their skin at a Japanese clinic weren’t registered, and the owner is
missing in action.
Laurine Murtagh, who has volunteered at the Joe Vickery Animal Shelter in Texas
City for the past nine years, said the two male dogs came in Wednesday.
An employee waved the shelter’s electronic wand over the mixed breeds’ shoulders
and learned the chips were embedded at a U.S. Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan,
Murtagh said.
Murtagh called the base and awoke a man who was from Alvin. She learned the name
of someone stationed at the base who had two dogs chipped there and plugged it
into a Web-based search engine.
“I think I’ve found the owners,” she said Monday afternoon. “A friend of mine
suggested whitepages.com. I found the man living in west Texas City. I made a
couple of phone calls and bothered the neighbors ... saying please get back with
me.”
First Chips From Overseas
Kim Schoolcraft, the shelter’s manager, said Wednesday’s discovery was the first
time the clinic took in dogs that were chipped overseas.
“It’s difficult to transfer animals from other countries,” Schoolcraft said.
“Even for military families, it’s quite a process. Someone cared a great deal
for them.”
One dog, brindle in color, is likely 8 to 10 years old and was found with a
faded red or purple collar, Schoolcraft said. The other is white and brown and
from 2 to 5 years old.
Both Murtagh and Schoolcraft speculated the dogs’ owner could have left them
with a caretaker while away. Neither showed signs of neglect, Schoolcraft said.
“We usually hold dogs 72 hours before releasing them for adoption,” Schoolcraft
said, but she said she intends to keep them longer in hopes the owner claims
them soon.
Adoptable Dogs
The microchipped dogs are social animals, and when released from their confines
Monday they raced around the room, which is nearly filled to capacity with caged
canines.
“We run a full house most of the time,” said Kurt Koopmann, a spokesman for the
Galveston County Health District. “We work hard with the community to encourage
people to spay and neuter their pets.”
If the owner doesn’t come forward, the dogs could be on the adoption list for
four to six weeks on average before facing euthanasia, Schoolcraft said.
“We hold them for as long as we can, as long as there is room,” Schoolcraft
said. “And as long as they stay adoptable and don’t become aggressive or sick.
Then euthanasia is the only other option.”
Schoolcraft said she tries to avoid euthanizing animals at all costs.
“Euthanasia is a sad fact of life,” she said. “But there is such an excess of
companion animals in the whole country. So many are born destined to be
euthanized or worse, dying on the street. Each one that is adopted is a
celebration, because there are so few homes for the animals.”For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
409-938-2211 or 409-392-0007
kkoopman@gchd.org |
