Get free microchips, ID tags for your pets at this CMPD July 4th weekend event

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Animal Care & Control Division is teaming up with local businesses to provide free microchips, rabies vaccines and identification tags for pets during its first-ever Prep Your Pet Day.

Prep Your Pet Day will be at the CMPD Animal Care & Control Adoption Center, 8315 Byrum Dr. on Friday from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Because of loud fireworks and gatherings with unfamiliar people making them anxious, more pets go missing during Fourth of July weekend than any other time of year, according to the American Kennel Club.

“It may be party-time for humans, but it can be a tough, long weekend for a lot of our furry friends,” CMPD animal care and control communications manager Melissa Knicely said in a news release. “Every year we team up with the media to send out proactive messaging before the Fourth about how to protect your pets from getting lost, and then we do follow-up stories afterward on how many lost pets entered the shelter due to the Fourth of July festivities. This year we decided to do something bigger and better to ensure Charlotte-Mecklenburg pets are protected.”

RELATED: How to keep your pets calm and safe during Fourth of July fireworks shows

At the event, through a partnership with PetLink, a company that makes pet identification products, CMPD will provide microchips to track your pets if they go missing. If your pet is already microchipped, you can have it checked for free at the event.

Free rabies vaccines will also be administered to pets. Rabies shots are usually given once to puppies, followed by a booster shot a year later, then administered every three years, the AKC says.

Pets that do not have ID tags on their collars will also have the opportunity to get one made.