(For more info, visit http://www.lostapet.org )

It can happen to anyone!

Questions from Susan & Sonja:
I completely agree with you that rescuers need to do more when it comes to reuniting lost pets with their owners. It's such a critical piece to the pet overpopulation issue, yet so often overlooked. I've even known rescuers who intentionally DON'T look for a owner because they believe the true owner doesn't deserve the animal back since it was "out on the loose" and they can find a "better" home for the animal anyway...

What type of public awareness campaign can we (those of us that believe in posting a lost animal as found) launch to better educate the rescuers about how critical this piece is? If the citizens see the rescuers making an all out effort to reunite a lost animal, hopefully they will follow by example and know what steps to take when they discover a displaced animal themselves.

Also, it seems that I am constantly hearing of people who find lost dogs and keep them in their yards for week or more before making any effort to find the owner. Most people don't even seem to know that the animal might have a microchip. Eventually, they let the dog loose again because they are tired of caring for it or they give it to a friend. How can we educate the public on what they should do if they lose or find an animal? It seems like common knowledge, but I see now that it is not. We plan to take out an ad in the newspaper, but aren't sure that will have a significant effect.

I guess it would make the most sense to collaborate with the county humane shelter on a project like this since they are supposed to be the nucleus for lost/found animals? I've seen some county humane shelters that immediately photograph a lost animal and post it on their website...what a great efffort!

Answer from Kat:

First, I want to point out that I am not anti-rescue or anti-shelter-I am pro-lost pet reunions! So when I talk about the pitfalls of "rescuer behaviors" I am not talking just about people who operate within formal rescue groups! The "rescuer" who exhibits the "rescuer behaviors" that I talk about could be an animal control officer, a TNR volunteer, a person washing their car, or a gas station attendant. It is whoever is the first person who comes into contact
with the lost dog or cat - they are the one who decides in their mind (and controls) the fate of that found animal. I used to worry that I might offend people by the things that I point out. But my job is not to make people feel good - it is to educate others about the issue of lost pet behaviors in order to increase the number of WANTED pets to be returned home so that we can open more spaces at sanctuaries and shelters for the dogs and cats that are truly
UNWANTED.

You mentioned a rescuer behavior that is sadly quite common - it is called the Judge-N-Jury and it goes like this: "If the owner cared for this dog so much, why did they let it run loose?" or, "Cats should never be allowed outdoors therefore any cat that I find outdoors I will rescue and adopt out to a family that will keep it indoors" or, "This dog deserves a better home than someone who can't keep it contained." A lost pet that is found by someone who feels this way will never be reunited with its owner - never. Because even if the rescuer spotted the LOST DOG poster or the classified Ad, they would not call the owner because, in their mind, they are doing the dog a favor by placing it with a "better" family.

Let me just add that dogs and cats escape from the custody of their families for a variety of reasons, including: being ejected from a car during a car wreck, bolting out the front door past a careless house guest, escaping out an open gate, climbing over a fence; breaking out a glass window during fireworks or a thunderstorm, and escaping out a gate that was left open by a service worker. I will never forget the university professor from Arizona who was involved in a roll-over car accident in an isolated desert area of Arizona during a sweltering summer heat. Her three cat carriers were ejected from the car - all three broke open and all three cats scattered in terror. Her husband was critically injured and was flown to a hospital over an hour away. She had to make the painful choice between being beside her critically injured husband, or in trying to go out and humanely trap her three cats. She attempted to do both - in spite of her own injuries - and tried to find a TNR group that had humane traps that would help her do this. No one would. Her husband lived, she never found her cats.

So as much as you would like to think that losing a dog or cat would "never" happen to you, let me just add that you never know when you are going to return home from work or a trip to the store and find that your house has been burglarized and your front door is standing open and your dog or cat is gone. Do NOT make the mistake of thinking that it will not happen to you! Put collars and ID tags and microchips on all of your pets. If you have a xenophobic dog, get an extra ID tag that states, "I'M AFRAID, NOT ABUSED!" and if you have a xenophobic cat, get an extra ID tag that states, "I'M FEARFUL, NOT FERAL!"

As far as widespread education, well, that is exactly what Missing Pet Partnership hopes to do - some day. We are currently negotiating a contract for a reality TV series that, if it is developed, will generate interest in the work that we are doing as well as educate people about the issue of lost pets. However, we are currently so grossly startup it's not even funny. Suffice it to say that unless something changes, we will continue to operate out of my house and primarily be an informational web site. I had to halt our efforts to have a national presence because we don't have any staff and we don't have the finances that we need. So because of this, we have shifted our focus into a local pilot program where we will launch a MAR (missing animal response) team here in Fresno and search for every lost pet (that we possibly can) in our community. Hopefully over the next few years, we will pick up new board members and find grant writers and make connections with people who share our vision and mission regarding lost pets. If there is anyway that you can help us - Missing Pet Partnership - with getting our message out, I guess that would be a start. Refer people to our web site http://www.lostapet.org. Get a copy of my book (THE LOST PET CHRONICLES) and give it to the director of your local shelter.

Missing Pet Partnership is addressing the overpopulation problem from a DIFFERENT angle. We are stating that lost dogs and lost cats that are not found equal stray dogs and stray cats that feed the homeless pet population. No amount of spay/neuter education or large scale pet adoption events or elaborate co-location plans to transport homeless dogs to other areas of the country is ever going to change the fact that MANY people - yes, EVEN CARLESS, STUPID PEOPLE - lose a pet they love on a daily basis and nothing, NOTHING, is being directed to help them recover their lost pet.

Microchips are a prophylactic system of identification - a microchip will not bring your cat back home if it is cowering three houses down underneath your neighbor's house. A microchip is useless if your dog is picked up by a rescuer who believes that you do not deserve to be reunited with a dog that they found running loose. A collar and ID tag is meaningless if someone finds your skinny, cut-up Poodle trotting down an isolated country road (after she escaped from the
groomer's office, was hit by a car, and ran for six days without food and water) because the rescuer will assume, based on the physical appearance of the dog and because of the LOCATION (isolated country road) of where they found the dog that it is UNWANTED and ABANDONED.

To be honest, marketing is my weakest area, so I suppose that I'm really not qualified to answer your question about how we can best get the message out. My gifts are in training dogs to track lost pets, training people in the science of how and where to search for lost pets, and bringing HOPE to grieving people who have lost a pet. But if there is anything that we can do to help you carry the, "THINK LOST, NOT STRAY," message locally, please don't hesitate to ask!

Posted on SHARE Yahoo group June 8, 2005