One in five Mackay dogs to be unidentifiable as HomesafeID goes offline

Animal rescue advocates are urging owners to check their pet microchips as a nationwide animal registry goes offline. Here’s what to do if you’re affected.

One in five dogs in Mackay risk being unidentifiable as national pet registry goes dark. Photo: Mackay Regional Council

Animal rescue volunteers are urging owners to check their pet tags as a nationwide pet microchip ID registry pulls the plug putting thousands of dogs at risk of being untraceable.

Vet clinics and animal shelters were notified yesterday that HomesafeID had gone into receivership.

The company’s database which currently stores pet and owner details will soon no longer be accessible.

The Animal Welfare League Queensland announced on Wednesday owners should check their pet’s microchip number via Pet Address and to re-register using an approved microchip database now that HomesafeID is no longer in use.

Taylah Jayne of Mackay Pet & Rescue said due to little communication between the registry company and the public, current owners who have their pets microchipped with HomesafeID have been left in the dark.

“We’ve pushed for many years for dogs to be microchipped and it could be all over in minutes,” she said.

“We don’t have an answer as to what happens with the database yet.

The company, which had been providing an online ID registry since 2009, had stopped contacting pet owners in December.

On February 5, HomesafeID announced on its website that it was “no longer communicating or paying for the hosting of this site, and so this site is likely to go offline in the future”.

Ms Jayne says around one in five dogs in Mackay could be microchipped under HomesafeID.

She says owners can easily call their local vets and those registered with HomesafeID to transfer not to alternative registries including Global Micro Animal Registry, Central Animal Records (CAR) and Australasian Animal Registry.

“If they would like to, they can change now,” Ms Jayne said.

“They can visit their local vet and if they’re a regular person, their vet may also just have their microchip number.”

HomesafeID has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as One in five Mackay dogs to be unidentifiable as HomesafeID goes offline