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The wee microchip â€" about the size of an uneoohd‘plinofriceâ€"isimplantedbya veterinarian on the left side of the pet, between, theâ€" ear l:;dth:hl: shoulder. An animal picked up umane society, or hurt and taken to a vet clinic, will be {scannied with a senser that picks up the 10 difi“ende in the microchip. & Thi number is the key link in finding the owners. By calling a 1800 number connected to a computer data bank, the authorized user receives information about the owner‘s location, the pet‘s veterinarian and its medical history. It al} sounds great, agree Jim Cosgrove, manager of the Kâ€"W Humane Society, and Dr. David Soehner, veterinarian at Buck Animal Hosptial in Waterloo, but for He put up a lti;oemr in the foyer announcing the recycling proâ€" gnm. Then Ponech went to the ousing services administraâ€" tion to pick up waste cardboard boxes, picked up poster paper and found a volunteer to decoâ€" rate the boxes. The boxes were set up in three lounges within the South 7 house of Village 1. Students bring steel and aluâ€" minum pop cans, fine paper â€" ledger and computer paper, bottles and newsprint to the It was the fact t was the newsprint, in that inspired Ponech to begin the "That was the biggest fl for me â€"â€" this place Jnnm‘ out tons of newâ€" papers, Not to mention the pop \ you‘ve got to buy into that technology. * Tus clich in propie tne mnt Canada forâ€"two years, INFOPET marketâ€" ing representative Tan McKeen, said that about 10,000 miflwmm been inâ€" serted just under the of â€""companion Pfi;b!vmfinu-ismmouthemfion. ‘wee microchip â€" about the size of an So after seeing the university flounder in starting a campusâ€" wide recycling program, Ponech decided to take the initiative. batt 4 Adsiiatiliabsrridl #o% If you want a job done right, sometimes you‘ve just got to do it yourself. * A small group of University of Waterloo resident students are getting impatient with the uniâ€" versity‘s snail pace at starting recycling and have started their own project. "We‘re the ones who benefit the most," said Daniel Ponech, the fourth year environmental and resource studies student who initiated the project for a small part of Vilrage 1 resiâ€" dence. "We‘re inheriting this whole (planetary) mess, and doing something now to help address this whole mess is selfishly in our own interest. We have a responsibility to do what we University of Waterloo students start recycling ‘Cal M 5.00 a Tb en o cereeniy ver doesn‘t have to be lost logy: could return ‘could make h::bm to he‘s stolen â€" the hitch is , 4 Â¥iscith.lchn mire. .A ow oc c n The last load was 256 pounds, W;mummgmm mmmm& it‘s all come together. While I lect j ~g started it, I look at it as a house according to Ponech. The first load taken to ‘Triâ€"Tech Recyâ€" cling on Dotzert Court in Waâ€" terloo totalled 107 pounds of recyclables from the 46 resiâ€" the cleaning staff have been educated to not throw away recyclables. A gatching on wi owners. er to : determining factor. charge . chis implant and the annual $11 fee, which J. mlthcpetnginendmtbednnbank its information upâ€"toâ€"date seems to PET _ turn people away. i uni doutf"lf'mwmthw‘h: it of ‘they just don‘t fo ith it," sai fhee o s on whirk rufirm‘mdtl:iex' plml.n region imj a that The clinic he ad has performed about inâ€" 10 implants in family cats and dogs. Some, in to ooo oe sn owners aren‘t seeing microchips as an "insurance policy" !:iemuae of they don‘t know: enough about the product. Money isn‘t the issue, when marketing studies show that pet owners spend from $300 to During the last year since the scanner was installed at the local Humane Society, nearly 3,000 animals have been scanned but none carrying a microchip. "Wewould'fialotofmia{actionifthey were using them. Unfortunately we haâ€" ven‘t turned up one yet," said Cosgrove. About half of the animals brought into the society are lost or abandoned, and the :emnfning are brought in by their owners he added, were pedigree animals but most were family pets of no outstanding breedâ€" unknown rea catthing on w one way or another, said ic man c leps anw ving ve gizhofl‘ their recyclables in the swe:don boxes. Even engiâ€" neering students are happily participating, chuckled Ponech, "Everyone is participating pet "A lot â€" believe it or not â€" say: ‘It‘s been gone for a week and I thought I‘d just come and check to see if he‘s here," said Cosgrove, adding, by law, a pound can sell or euthanize a stray after three days. $700 for medical, food and supplies for their pets, he added. "INFOPET microchip is only three per eentd'thetould'vhauhneispendontbe animal. The cost is very little compared to thepmdadtlgcyget,”henid.'!hecom- pany has provided scanners freeâ€"ofâ€"charge to humane societies in 450 municipalities in Canada, along with providing veterinaâ€" rians with the equipment to do the imâ€" plants. INFOPET, he added, is in operation nationâ€"wide, can be used with birds, reâ€" ptiles, cats, dogs and rodent pets. It is also linked with a United States data bank, allowing a transfer of informaâ€" tion of lost animals across the border. The immediacy of locating a pet owner is something McKeen and Cosgrove consider benefical â€" but their views are from different perspectives. McKeen sees it as the end to worrying and fretting about a missing pet. Cosgrove, too, recognizes that the microchip would mean a haste return to the owner ially since some owners may take a wee? before they call the pound wondering whether their pet is there. ‘"It shows people are interestâ€" ed in making it work." B tao matieg hoe is can learn i the students of South Seven. "It doesn‘t take a great deal of walls, It can work; it‘s an extremely viable operation. The success has taught Ponech a lesson: ‘"That it can be done. There‘s no reason to asâ€" sume you‘ll run up against mhcilfior impatient over the lack of progress unhm'dtg.m adnngunbtmion in starting a cunpus-m:ey recycling program. lan Kirkby photo WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY JULY 19, 1989 â€" PAGE 3 is moved over the cat‘s left side, bot\nonmemmdthehomleg.to detect the microchip. Cathy O‘Bee, an animal health techniâ€" can at Buck Animal Hospital on Erb Street demonstrates how the scanner solutions. effort to do this. It was done with zero capital â€" no money, no background, but a determiâ€" nation for it to work." He believes the university is working very hard at studying a recycling program for the Every dog and his shorts can