[bluewolf]

If you have a cats that roams outside, beware of bunchers. Bunchers are thieves that trap and steal domesticated pets and sell them to laboratories to be experimented on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncher

An RFID microchip combined with a GPS collar (Pawtrack.com has a good one) may help prevent such a terrible outcome, but there are no guarantees.

[personZ]

Interesting consideration, but is it a legitimate concern? For the actual "Bunchers", it seems like there are much easier ways of acquiring cats than trying to steal domestic cats. And for cat owners, free roam cats face an endless array of very serious perils, including disease, cars, malicious neighobors/teens, dogs, coyotes, etc. I can't imagine that people stealing cats for research account for much more than a blip compared to the completely banal sources of imminent mortality when a cat runs free.

[bluewolf]

If it happened to your pet, it would be a legitimate concern.