Walkabout at Woodstock
The music, noise and activity at the Woodstock Festival beckoned to Max, an inquisitive and gregarious German Shepherd.
He lived with his owner family, the Melins, adjacent to the Roos-se-Oord near Broederstroom, where here in October 2004, the music festival was again taking place.
Determined to explore and satisfy his curiosity, Max escaped the watchful eye of his owner and crossed the road where he joined the revelry.
Here were people, other dogs, food and so much activity. Max wandered deeper into the throng of humanity until his handsome appearance caught the eye of someone who decided that Max was too good not to steal.
And so it was that he never came home that night or the next or the next.
The Melins eventually gave up all hope of their pet returning home.
On Thursday 10th Feb 2005 (some five months later) Identipet took a call from Melville Animal Clinic in Johannesburg, requesting information for an apparently lost German Shepherd that had been brought in for identification.
The tiny Identipet microchip, implanted in September 2000 beeped clearly Max’s identity number. However, all was not well. The contact information for Max’s owner had not been updated when they had moved. Dead end?
Thankfully not! The Identipet database recorded that Dr. Strydom’s Ifafi Animal Clinic, had implanted the microchip, and by following that lead, the clinic was able to provide updated information, whereby Max’s owner was traced.
Mr Melin was in the hairdresser when his cellphone rang. Astonishment was evident in his voice. It wasn’t even two hours later that a subdued Max was brought into the Melville Animal Clinic’s reception area where he was awaited.
“Max was in a frenzy of delight,” said Mr Melin “He never stopped licking me, all the way home,” he added.
The story has a sequel. Not too many hours later, Melville Animal Clinic received a phone call enquiring about “My lost German Shepherd”. On being confronted with the facts, an admission was made.
Max had been stolen on the night of Woodstock, but now, five months after the music, smells, and food had proved so much of a temptation, he was back with his rightful owner.
Thanks to a tiny Identipet microchip, the size of a grain of rice.
Without it, Max would have been lost forever.
