JAKARTA - This city in South Korea plans to launch a pilot program to track dogs with its own characteristics, no longer using tag necklaces and microchips.
The port city of Incheon said Friday it will launch a pilot program next month to register dogs using their dogs' rhinaria patterns, highly individual patterns of wrinkled skin on a dog or cat's nose that act just like human fingerprints.
For modern pet owners, traditional registration has long posed a dilemma.
Microchips, though effective, require the insertion of a chip under the skin, a procedure that makes many owners squeamish.
While external tags are less invasive but are notorious for coming off easily when playing catch or getting lost in the bushes.
Incheon authorities are also taking a breakthrough with a simple and painless digital scan of the dog's muzzle.
Starting in August, pet owners in Gyeyang and Michuhol Districts, Incheon City can take their pets to mobile booths at local apartment complexes and dog parks to officially record their pets' noses into a database.
"Registering your dog is the most basic obligation for responsible pet owners," said Jang Se-hwan, head of the Incheon Agriculture and Livestock Department, launching The Korea Times (4/7).
"We encourage residents to take advantage of this fully free pilot program before the end of the year," he said.
However, there is a slight legal obstacle. Korean law has not recognized the nose print as an official form of registration of pets that are mandatory.
To address this gap, the city is offering a special package: If an unregistered dog visits a booth, the city will combine a high-tech nose scan with a traditional collar tag for free until December.
The service is not exclusive to the two pilot districts; any Incheon resident can utilize the mobile stand to scan their dogs.
City officials hope this contactless method will dramatically increase the number of registrations and make it easier to reunite lost pets with their owners.
Whether this technology will actually replace microchips remains to be seen, but for five months, dogs in Incheon will line up to get a high-tech nose "touch" for public safety.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
