Sheriff’s Office to hold free microchip clinic

Published 3:16 pm Saturday, February 18, 2023

THOMASVILLE- On March 4, the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office is hosting a free drive-thru pet microchip clinic at the Thomas County Health Department, located at 484 Smith Avenue.

The drive-thru will begin at 10 a.m. and continue until 2 p.m. When bringing a pet, Captain Chuck McDonald said that owners should keep the pets in the vehicle as they drive up, with all dogs having a collar and leash. Cats and other pocket pets are required to be in a carrier.

“We’re running it kind of like they did the COVID vaccine, testing an all,” he said. “You just pull up in your car, there will be somebody there to take your information down, so they can register the chip and dog, after the fact, and somebody to help hold the dog and somebody to chip the dog.”

With so many pets near a highway, McDonald said that they are worried about the problems that could brew if too many were taken out at one time.

“Let’s just say we had 50 cars pop up at one time and everyone starts taking their dogs out,” McDonald said. “It could make for a bad situation.”

McDonald said pet owners will need to provide identification, such as their driver’s license, as well as two forms of mail that proves residency in Thomas County, such as a bill of some kind. 

“We need to have two forms of some kind of mail that you get- utility bill, internet bill, cable bill, something like that,” he said. 

Joani Ellis, an organizer for the event, said that 1000 microchips have been supplied to the local authorities and that they will be used by the Sheriff’s Office to bring lost pets back to their homes. 

“These are free microchips with a lifetime registration for Thomas County pet owners and one of the good parts about this program is we spoke to the Sheriff’s Office and they promised a free ride home,” she said. “So one of our sayings is ‘prepare your pet for the unexpected and a free ride home.’”

To aid with that, Ellis said that multiple animal rescue organizations have collaborated to supply the Sheriff’s Office with microchip readers and infrared temperature guns, which can be used to accurately check the temperature of a car from a distance. 

“We have provided the Sheriff’s Office with microchip readers,” Ellis said. “We’ve also provided the Sheriff’s Office with infrared temperature guns, so if a pet or a child is left in a car, they can shoot that infrared temperature gun into the car to see how hot or cold that car is.”

Ellis said that the three animal rescue organizations involved were Red Road Rescue, Inc., Just Jacks Road Rescue, Inc. and Waggin’ Train Rescue Transport, Inc. and that they were reaching out to businesses in the local area for sponsors to help fund future clinics. 

“We want to provide animals a permanent way to have an ID because they don’t have a voice,” Ellis said. “We value the pet-human bond, and we want to make sure they get home.”

She added that they are organizing a similar event on March 18, which will be held at the Thomas County Health Department as well. 

McDonald said that that he is hoping to have as many people as possible at the clinic, because each and every microchip helps them reunite lost pets with their owners. 

“We’d like to see as many people come out and get their animals chipped as possible,” he said. “It’ll make it easier for us to return the animal to the owner.”