"Focused Crackdown on 'Pet Registration'... Yet Still Criticized as a 'Half-Measure'"

Ministry of Agriculture Imposes 1 Million Won Fine for Unregistered Pets
Pet Registration System in 8th Year, but Low Microchip Verification Rate
Animal Groups Say "System Needs Improvement"

(Seoul=Yonhap News) Reporter Kang Min-ji = The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will operate a 'Voluntary Animal Registration Reporting Period' from July 1 to August 31 to promote the animal registration system.

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Lee Seohee] In June last year, a 6-month-old pet dog named ‘Rangrang-i’ was hit by a car. After being neutered, it was left at an animal hospital for treatment, but the dog escaped onto the street due to the negligence of the caretaker and met with an accident. Upon hearing that Rangrang-i was missing, the owner immediately posted on SNS (social networking service) to find the dog and searched for it. However, three days later, Rangrang-i’s severely decomposed body was found.

There was a reason for the delay in returning Rangrang-i to its owner. On the day of the accident, the Seoul Facilities Corporation, which collected Rangrang-i’s body, did not check the implanted microchip in the dog’s body. A microchip is a small chip inserted between the muscle and skin of a pet that stores information such as the owner’s name, contact number, and address. At the time, Rangrang-i was wearing a leash and neck collar, clearly indicating it was a pet with an owner, but the person in charge of handling the body did not check the chip and discarded it.

Although the ‘Pet Registration System,’ which requires registration of pet information at city, county, and district offices to prevent loss and abandonment of pets, has been in effect for eight years this year, there are still criticisms that the system is insufficient. Despite a significant increase in the number of registered animals due to the system, the actual rate of microchip verification for found pet bodies in the field remains low. As of the end of last year, the number of registered pet dogs reached 2.78 million, but most animal bodies were incinerated or discarded without microchip verification.

Currently, pet bodies killed by roadkill are classified as ‘household waste’ and are automatically incinerated after a certain period unless the owner directly contacts the local district office. There is no mandatory procedure to check the microchip when an animal body is found, so the person in charge can freely incinerate or discard it. Meanwhile, the number of animals losing their lives to roadkill is increasing every year. According to Seoul City, the number of animal body disposals in Seoul rose from 9,233 cases in 2018 to 10,556 cases in 2020.

Meanwhile, on the 27th, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced that it will operate a ‘Voluntary Animal Registration Reporting Period’ for two months from July 1 to August 31. The government plans to intensively crack down on unregistered animals for one month starting September 1 and impose a fine of 1 million KRW on unregistered animals. Failure to report changed registration information will result in a fine of up to 500,000 KRW.

However, animal organizations point out that the government’s pet registration system remains a ‘half-measure.’ Although microchip implantation is mandatory, the microchip verification process is still not properly conducted in the field. Furthermore, even if the owner’s identity is traced through the microchip information implanted in abandoned animals, it is practically impossible to punish them because it is difficult to prove that the owner intentionally abandoned the pet.

Shin Juwon, Policy Planning Team Leader of the animal organization KARA, said, “It is difficult to expect local governments to voluntarily carry out microchip verification procedures, so if the Ministry of Agriculture does not legislate the microchip verification process, it will be useless.” He also pointed out the loophole in the pet registration system, saying, “Even if the owner who abandoned the pet is found through the information registered in the microchip, it is practically difficult to prove intentionality if the owner claims, ‘The pet ran away while I was momentarily distracted,’ or ‘I gave it to an acquaintance a long time ago, but I think the acquaintance abandoned it.’”