In fact, just about every day of the week, a cry for help comes from somewhere asking the Missing Lost and Found Pets Invercargill volunteer to scan a lost or injured animal’s microchip to help track down their owners.
In the past year he has received more than 300 calls from as far as Mataura and Gore.
"I even went to Gore and scanned about 10 dogs in Gore."
Mr Cameron said the New Zealand Companion Animal Register service had provided him with the scanner and read-only access to information via a secure phone app.
"If I go out and scan and read the chip, I can ring the owner [and tell them] we’ve got your dog and they can have it back straight away."
New Zealand Companion Animal Register manager David Lloyd said since the registry’s inception in 2007, it had amassed a national database that included owner details of cats, dogs, horses, turtles, birds, goats, pigs, lambs and even three eels.
Authorised organisations, vetted charities and individuals working within the animal welfare sector were able to access owner details.
"We try to find the balance between having the service as useful as possible for people who have lost an animal and also protecting data."
He thought the work Mr Cameron did was great.
"It’s fantastic to have trustworthy people out there performing that service even in a voluntary basis.
"It’s a better animal welfare outcome to have those animals returned home as soon as possible — it’s better for the animal’s guardians as well.
"It makes it much more efficient.
"Animals aren’t languishing in cages or kennels around the place while they are waiting to be listed on a website or Facebook as an unknown animal."
It also meant shelters were not attempting to rehome animals that already had a home, he said.
Mr Cameron said he kept records of all the animals he scanned which could show if there were any repeat escape artists causing problems.
Owners were not always at fault.
Sometimes the situation was genuine.
"People say ‘owners need to wake up’.
"But what do you do if an owner is on holiday and the dog gets out or away, what are they meant to do?"
"I get sick of people that don’t care if their dog gets out.
"That annoys me, but the genuine ones and ones who have an accident, I feel sorry for them."
Mr Lloyd said the only flaw with animals being directly re-homed was potentially dangerous repeat offenders could fly under the radar of dog control.
It was important the council was made aware of habitually roaming dogs because it was a public safety issue.
Mr Cameron said he struggled to understand, if owner details were kept up to date on the register, why chipped dogs could not immediately be returned to owners by organisations that picked them up.
"If they have to pay a $10 fee, fair enough, but if they are registered and chipped, I don’t understand why they can’t be taken home.
"I think all animals should be at home where they belong."
— Toni McDonald
