On April 30th, the Saga Humane Society in San Pedro partnered with the Ranger Warriors Foundation to hold a free microchipping and vaccination clinic for dogs and cats. The event aimed to help pet owners protect their animals by implanting microchips linked to a registry, making it easier to reunite lost or stolen pets with their families.
June Erickson, the founder of the Ranger Warriors Foundation, explained the microchipping process. “It’s painless for most dogs. It involves a needle the size of a grain of rice, which contains a number embedded on the chip. This number can be scanned and accessed in a registry so that if a pet is lost and found, they can go to a scanning station, which is listed on our Ranger Warriors website,” she said.
This initiative is part of a broader campaign to microchip every dog and cat on Ambergris Caye, including strays, to ensure that no animal goes ignored.
Since November, the program has successfully implanted a total of 157 microchips across five clinics, with 30 animals microchipped during the latest event alone. Erickson highlighted the importance of community involvement, urging people to “please come out and microchip your dogs and cats. If they get lost or stolen, we can locate them, so that what happened to my dog Ranger doesn’t happen to anyone else.” She shared her motivation, which was inspired by the loss of her own dog, Ranger, who went missing despite being microchipped.
Microchips for pets are registered in a free online database, and scanning stations are available throughout the island to help quickly identify lost pets. Erickson encourages, “If you find a lost dog wandering around, please take it to a scanning station to check for a chip and help reunite it with its loving family.”
The foundation also manages a Facebook group called “Lost and Found Animals of San Pedro,” which has successfully reunited nearly two dozen pets with their owners. Donations are accepted to support the program, which relies on community contributions. For more information, you can reach out via email at [email protected] or by phone at 675-0604. Additionally, the foundation plans to hold two more clinics soon, although the dates have yet to be confirmed.
