London:
All dogs in England will need to be microchipped by 2016 to help tackle the growing problem of strays roaming the streets, the government said on Wednesday.
Every dog owner in England will have to microchip their animal from April 6, 2016 under plans intended to cut a rise in strays, Environment Secretary Owen Paterson said.
The microchips will be coded with owners' details, and owners who do not comply could face fines of up to 500 pounds.
"It's ludicrous that in a nation of dog-lovers, thousands of dogs are roaming the streets or stuck in kennels because the owner cannot be tracked down," Paterson said.
"Microchipping is a simple solution that gives peace of mind to owners. It makes it easier to get their pet back if it strays and easier to trace if it's stolen," Paterson said.
The Environment Department says 60 per cent of Britain's eight million pet dogs already have microchips, which can be scanned and matched to their owners' details.
Government figures reveal that more than 100,000 dogs are dumped or lost each year in the country, at a cost of 57 million pounds to the taxpayer and welfare charities.
Officials hope the change in the law will help reunite owners with lost or stolen pets and relieve some of the burden on animal charities and local authorities.
Any owner whose dog is found without a chip and can be traced by local authorities will have a short period of time to have the dog microchipped.
Laws governing dog attacks will also be extended to cover private property, closing a loophole which has meant that dog owners whose animals have attacked people on private property are immune from prosecution.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) welcomed the proposals, but said it doubted that they alone would "make owners more responsible or ensure fewer dogs bite people".
David Bowles, the RSPCA's head of public affairs, said: "Compulsory microchipping and extending the law to cover private property as well as public spaces is a welcome move.
He said that the number of warnings issued to dog-owners because of poor welfare last year had been up 12 per cent on 2011, while in the last four years there had been a 26 per cent rise in the number dog bites requiring hospitalisation.
The procedure, which costs about 20-30 pounds at a private veterinary clinic, involves inserting a sterile chip the size of a grain of rice between a dog's shoulder blades.
It does not require an anaesthetic and is no more painful than a standard vaccination.
Eight children and six adults have been killed in dog attacks since 2005, with many of these incidents taking place in the home, according to official figures.
In the past 12 months, more than 3,000 postal workers were attacked by out-of-control dogs, with 70 per cent of these attacks happening on private property.