{"id":204839,"date":"2019-03-02T22:17:01","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T03:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=204839"},"modified":"2019-03-02T22:17:01","modified_gmt":"2019-03-03T03:17:01","slug":"anchorage-pets-get-high-tech-help-in-the-event-they-get-lost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/03\/02\/anchorage-pets-get-high-tech-help-in-the-event-they-get-lost\/","title":{"rendered":"Anchorage pets get high tech help in the event they get lost"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anchorage pet licenses can now come with digital codes aimed at more rapidly reuniting lost pets with owners and freeing up shelter space, officials say. (File Photo<\/a>:
Anchorage Animal Care and Control\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ANCHORAGE, Alaska \u2014 Anchorage pet licenses can now come with digital codes aimed at more rapidly reuniting lost pets with owners and freeing up shelter space, officials say.<\/p>\n

The Anchorage Animal Care and Control Center started offering digital pet licenses this year. A Washington state-based company called Pethub produces the tags, which come with a digital quick response code, or QR code.<\/p>\n

Scanning the tag with a smartphone pulls up a webpage with a profile for the pet, which can include multiple contact numbers, health information and eating preferences.<\/p>\n

Shelter communications director Laura Atwood’s husky, Whisper, has a digital tag and a page. The page lists five phone numbers, along with Whisper’s birthday, his microchip ID and a physical description that includes a notch missing from his tongue.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is not food motivated so coaxing him with food may not work unless it’s real chicken or turkey,\u201d the page says. \u201cOr pizza.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Whisper got lost, his finder could send a GPS location through the page, Atwood said. Atwood would also get a text telling her that the code was scanned.<\/p>\n

The tag comes with a red sticker with activation instructions. In one recent case, someone found a lost dog with a digital license that hadn’t yet been activated. The dog ended up staying briefly at the shelter until its family picked it up, according to a post about the incident on the Animal Care and Control Facebook page.<\/p>\n

Activating the tag falls to pet owners, not the animal shelter, so the owner can decide what information to provide to the call centre, Atwood said.<\/p>\n

The tags are the latest example of Anchorage city government tapping into QR code technology.<\/p>\n

At the Anchorage cemetery, families have the option of paying $150 for a QR code to accompany the gravesite of a loved one. The codes are mounted on the columbarium wall. A smartphone scan launches a memorial website.<\/p>\n

About a dozen families have purchased the codes since the program began a few years ago, said cemetery director Rob Jones.<\/p>\n

The cemetery has also purchased a code to be placed near the whale bones that mark the graves of a whaling captain and his wife, Jones said. He said it would be a way to tell the story of the whale bones, which mark the centre of the city cemetery.<\/p>\n

In the case of the city animal shelter’s foray into digitizing, Atwood said she learned about the digital pet licenses at a conference in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just truly a way to help reunite lost dogs more quick with their owners, and without the animal having to come through the shelter,\u201d Atwood said.<\/p>\n

Anchorage resident Cynthia White manages two different Facebook pages for lost pets. She spends a lot of time connecting pet owners to resources, making posters and loaning out animal traps. The digital licenses are a good way to use new technology and make it easier for people to track down lost pets, White said.<\/p>\n

But White also urged pet owners and animal shelter staff to update microchip data, which she said is often out-of-date.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many dogs get lost who do not have a collar on,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n

Atwood also said the new licenses do not take the place of microchips. She said the tags are meant to be an additional tool to help pet owners.<\/p>\n

The new digital tags can be purchased at the Anchorage animal shelter off Elmore Road, at most veterinary offices or online at lovemewithalicense.com.<\/p>\n

If it’s a first-time license application or a renewal, the current fees apply, Atwood said. Duplicating an existing license to add a digital tag costs an extra $5.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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