Local authorities and animal warden services

At Chipworks we realise that colleagues in local authority and animal warden services are at the front line of reuniting lost pets with their keepers every day of the week.

We also know that your working day does not always stop at 5 o'clock and that's why we provide reunification facilities 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to try to make sure that pets are reunited with their owners as quickly as possible.

If you are trying to locate which UK database a microchip is registered on, all Defra compliant UK databases are required to provide an integration tool so that anyone can search via any of the database websites. The site that links to the gov.uk compulsory microchipping pages is https://www.check-a-chip.co.uk. If a chip is not registered, this site will also suggest which database to contact for further information e.g. the implanter the chip was issued to, as well as identifying the originating country for any unregistered foreign chips.

For any foreign chips you wish to locate, you can use EuroPetNet (EPN) at https://www.europetnet.com/pet-id-search.html. However, not all European databases are linked to EPN in the same way that in the UK, only Chipworks and Petlog are members.

Whilst horses are required to have a microchip implanted for the purpose of the passport, those chips do not have to be registered on a Defra compliant database, although more and more horse owners and vets are choosing to do so. However, there is a Central Equine Database https://www.equineregister.co.uk/home which identifies the passport issuing office based on the microchip number associated with the passport. The PIO will hold details of the registered keeper.