Beep....

Have you got a pet cat?  Have you had it microchipped?  You may think that if it goes missing and somebody finds it, you will be reunited with it.  Well. not necessarily it seems.  Apparently, if whoever found it does not want their identity revealed, data protection regulations mean that you cannot be told where it is or who has it.  So, can you involve the Police?  Well, you can certainly report the facts to them, but the question is whether any offence has been committed.  If the cat was taken, then that would be theft, but if it simply wandered off and eventually found its way to whoever now has it, it's hard to see what wrong has been done.  I suppose the question is - if you innocently come into possession of something, and later learn that it belongs to someone else, are you under any legal obligation to return it to its rightful owner?  Answers. as they say, on a postcard.