WARRINGTON Borough Council has vowed to thoroughly check all cats killed on the town’s roads for microchips following lobbying by animal lovers.

Pet owners have been campaign for two decades to have all animals who die in accidents on the roads scanned for microchips thoroughly, as the devices can move from the location they were originally place in the animals.

The council now says it will ‘tighten up’ its procedures which will ensure that any pet killed on the roads can be reunited with their owners as soon as possible.

Karen Mercer, who runs the Chapelford Cats group, sparked the changes after her friend Carol Hicks’ two-year-old Kiwi was killed in an accident in Whittle Hall.

She said: “Carol was told that the council had collected a cat in the area but it had no microchip, but it was just a little bit too coincidental.

“Carol was told adamantly that there wasn’t a microchip even though she and I knew it was Kiwi’s body they had and it took almost a week to get the answer.

“It was only because she then persisted on this matter that they actually went and checked again and found a chip – heartbreakingly it was Kiwi.”

A complaint made by Karen saw an investigation started, and with the help of fellow cat lovers Cllr Rebecca Knowles and Warrington Borough Council’s environment manager Kathy Sephton changes are now being implemented.

Karen added: “For about 20 years we’ve been trying to get the council to ensure that every cat that is picked up off the road is checked for a chip because we know that it doesn’t always happen.

“There have been a lot of failings in the system where owners have been left not knowing what has happened because they’re ringing the council and being told their cat isn’t there, but nine times out of 10 they are.

“This has been a battle for a number of years and it has been like a massive celebration – we’re absolutely thrilled.

“It has to be done properly and thankfully the right people were in the right place when I made the phone call and they’ve responded and put the solution in place.”