Escape Alert! New Kickstarter Campaign for GPS Pet Microchip Starts Se

Christina Peden
by Christina Peden
A new company out of California wants to help you find your lost pet, stress-free — but they can’t do it without your help.


Your beloved pet may already be microchipped, and that’s a great thing if they get lost and are turned into a shelter or veterinary clinic. The shelter can scan the chip, find your contact information and return your pet safe and sound.


Unfortunately, many lost pets don’t make it to the shelter. Maybe someone takes them in instead of turning them in, or steals them for a multitude of nefarious reasons, or maybe the worst happens (which we really don’t ever want to think about).


Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a way to actually track your pet when they’re lost? Well, that’s exactly what California-based Escape Alert is hoping to make a reality with their new GPS microchip. Their Kickstarter campaign is set to launch on Tuesday, September 23rd and you can be a part of it.


The idea for the Escape Alert GPS microchip came about after a conversation company co-founder Janice Mooneyham had with her daughter. Janice had mistakenly thought that her pet’s already-implanted RFID microchip (the standard chip you’d get at your vet’s office) could track them down if they got lost. When her daughter informed her that the microchip only worked when scanned at a shelter or clinic and couldn’t actually track a lost pet down, the idea for the Escape Alert chip was born.


How Does It Work?


The tiny GPS chip, which will be implanted under the skin the way most microchips currently are, uses “geo-fencing” to track your pet if they’ve wandered too far from home. Essentially, you can use the chip’s internal GPS to set up a boundary area around your home (say, 50 yards in either direction). If your pet goes outside the invisible geo-fence, you’ll receive a text message or email alert that your pet has left the designated boundary area, so you’ll know almost right away if they’ve wandered off.


The internal GPS will allow you to track your pet’s location to within 5 yards, making it super easy to find them if they do manage to escape your property.


And you won’t have to worry about the battery dying — the Escape Alert chip will use a tiny battery called a piezo-electrical nanogenerator (how’s that for a mouthful?), which is powered by body movement. So, every time your pet moves, they’ll be providing extra juice for the chip’s battery.


Escape Alert’s Kickstarter campaign launches on September 23rd, at which point you’ll be able to pre-order your Escape Alert GPS implantable chip and be kept up-to-date on the chip’s development process and eventual shipping date. Until then, you can visit the Escape Alert website to sign up for email updates and send your feedback to the developers as they build their first working prototype.


So, what are you waiting for? We’re already on the list — are you?


Editor’s Note: The Escape Alert chip didn’t launch a Kickstarter campaign, and the site is no longer available. As well, a product like this for several years to come. Our pals at PetLoverGeek do an amazing job of explaining why this is in a 3-post series.

Christina Peden
Christina Peden

Christina Peden is a lifelong animal lover and avid wordsmith. She lives in Toronto with her boyfriend Ryan where they are proud pet parents to puppy, Matilda and cat, Oscar. In her spare time, she can be found enjoying Toronto, Canada's all-too-short patio season, taking advantage of the city's numerous parks or curled up with a good book.

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