A system for automatically detecting the presence of a cage or tray for containing laboratory animals in a specific position of a facility shelf and a method for managing the data relating to the cage, implemented by the system, particularly advantageous for the laboratory technician. In particular, the system is composed of a shelf comprising a plurality of devices designed to detect the position in the facility and the ID of a cage, a central control unit designed to process, through software, the information received in order to offer the operator the possibility of tracking and managing, by means of a database, the whole facility. Numerous other functions of the system are included, such as the function designed to detect and notify, visually or through the software, the correct positioning of a cage in the shelf.