P E O P L E
Find My Pet!
Petigree Magazine
chats with Peta Wittig,
the founder and owner of
adopt-me.ae, a website
that has launched UAE’s
first National
Micro-chipping
Database.
Adopt-ME.ae is a recently launched initiative for
animal welfare in the UAE. Adopt-ME.ae is a
website that serves as a platform for all animal
welfare groups and likeminded people to come
together. The initiative was taken by Peta Wittig,
an Australian expat in the UAE since six years.
She is a freelancer in the leisure and tourism
industry and of course another animal lover!
Earlier this year, Adopt-Me.ae launched a free
of charge National Micro-chipping Database
for pets in the UAE. A microchip is small
grain-sized device that is implanted under the
pets skin. Each microchip has a unique number
that shows once scanned with a special chip
reader. Contact details remain hidden and thus
a lost pet’s rescuer cannot manage to find the
owner just from the microchip number.
“Due to different rules across the Emirates
relating to pet registration and the use of many
microchip manufacturers amongst vets,
tracking down the owners of lost pets is often
difficult” Peta Wittig, Founder of Adopt-ME.ae
explains.
To address this problem, Adopt-ME.ae launched
this initiative called ‘Find My Pet’. Not only is it
free-of-charge, it is also a very convenient and
user-friendly service. The process of
registering is easy and simple and enables a lost
pet’s rescuer to track down the owner. In Dubai,
pet owners are required by law to register their
pets with the Municipality - including providing
36
By
Suha Jafri
their microchip and vaccination details.
“The Dubai Municipality has a system already in
place for pet owners, and we are by no means
a substitute for this. Dubai Pet owners must still
register with the Municipality and Find My Pet! Is
simply another tool to help reunite pet owners
and of course helping pet owners from other
Emirates,” Wittig confirms.
A simple registration, pet owners log on to
www.adopt-me.ae and provide contact details
and their pet’s microchip number. Once
registered, you and your pet’s details are
captured in a central system, which can be
searched by anyone.
So far, the initiative has registered more than
300 pets across the country and is still going
strong! The service is absolutely free-of-charge
to everyone, pet owners and vets alike. Anyone
who finds a lost pet can go to
www.adopt-me.ae and search for the owner
registered with that unique microchip number.
This will help reunite lost pets with their owners
quicker.
This service is one of the only ones across the
globe that is free of charge. Adopt-Me.ae
explains that they have kept it free for all in
order to first educate people about the impor-
tance of micro chipping and also the benefit
of registering with the Municipality and Find My
Pet. Currently, the adopt-me website is flooded