“No, it’s not possible to control the movements of wolves with microchips”

In Italy there is a longlasting widespread rumor that a microchip under the skin allows to trace the position of the animals. A hoax that has found a huge resounding board in a popular TV drama on a national television channel, A step from the sky, on air in prime time. In the first episode of the first season), the protagonist, the commander of the Forest Service Pietro, says he wanted to insert a microchip under the skin of a wolf (the actor animal is actually Usha, a female Czechoslovakian wolfdog) in order to follow its movements in real time. In reality, it doesn’t work like that.

To give an example that we all know: the microchip for dogs, required by law in several countries, only can be read by a receiver on a distance of a few centimetres.

The microchip is approximately 11-14 mm long and 2-2.2 mm wide and is implanted under the skin of the animal with a syringe at shoulder blades. It contains a unique identification code and no without feed. To read the code, the veterinarian passes a special reader at the shoulder blades of the dog.While you are looking for your lost dog the microchip is no help, you will need a GPS tracker equipped with a high quality GSM module, GPS antenna and battery. A much bulkier and heavier device than a microchip: it would be completely unthinkable to include all these components in a dog microchip, which is normally the size of a grain of rice!