The Prime Minister's website has received a petition for a new law making it compulsory to microchip pets in the UK.

If you wish to support this petition, please click here and add your name: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/MicrochipPets/

The full petition reads:

"I am a responsible pet owner and have both my parrots and dog microchipped. I genuinely believe that all pets (where possible) should be microchipped.

I feel that it should be mandatory and is part of being a responsible pet owner. This should act as a "licence". I strongly beleive that this course of action will protect many discarded, stolen and mistreated pets every year as there will be no escape for the owners as the pet can be traced back to them.

I appreciated that due to size and temperament some pets may not be able to be microchipped, but certainly dogs, cats, horses, valuable / larger birds, rabbits etc should be.

I hope you agree that £30 for a microchip is good value, if owners cannot afford this then they shouldnt be considering a pet in the first place.

Please can you give this idea serious consideration as I feel we must do something to protect the pets that do not have a voice in our society."

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