Missing or Found Pets
Missing Pets
1. Start your foot search immediately! As soon as you discover your pet is missing, take steps to recover it. Do not just wait for the animal to find its way home. We cannot emphasize too strongly that time is critical. However, never give up hope.. never give up going door to door. We have helped reunite cats with their family after 9+ weeks. There are many stories of reunification after years. They are scared and waiting for you to find them.
General search tips – Cats
PetFBI – Search tips – Cats
General search tips – Dogs
General search tips – Parrots
2. Visit Beaufort County Animal Services every 1-2 days. Please bring a photo of your pet. You are the only one who can positively identify your pet. Leave your name, address, a daytime phone number, and a description of your pet. Inform them if your lost friend has a microchip. Complete their missing pet form.
3. Create a Missing Pet Flyer with this Pet Flyer template: Consider offering a reward to the public. Be sure to include the date and the area where your animal was lost or found. Go door to door in your neighborhood dropping off flyers. Talk to everyone – especially the kids. Post signs in nearby convenience stores, grocery stores, and Veterinarian’s offices, not on utility poles. Include a picture on the flyer, it is easier for someone to identify your pet. Listen and begin to gather clues.
4.Pawboost flyer and tips…great for Facebook and distributing online to rescue organizations. Pawboost has a missing pet database.
5. Check with your mail carrier, garbage collector, and other individuals who regularly frequent your neighborhood as well as local vets. Give them a Missing Pet flyer.
6. Sign up to have Toto phone calls sent to your neighbors. They enter the exact address of where your pet was last seen into their mapping system, serving as the center point of the search area, which then pulls the data of phone numbers in a radius starting from the center point out. Read a sample Toto Alert below:
This is a lost pet alert from your neighbor Brian. He lost his dog Cody on July 5th. Cody is a brown and black German Shepherd. If you have seen him or can help, please call 859-555-5555. You can also view your neighbor’s lost pet and their contact info at TotoAlert.org.
Please note: There is a fee for this service.
7. Missing Animal Response Network offers behavior-based lost pet recovery tips and referrals to lost pet services including detectives.
8. Prevention… Micro-chip your pet now before he/she goes missing. Be proactive…With one in three pets getting lost in their lifetime, ensure that your pet (dogs AND cats) is microchipped. There is a greater chance of a happy reunion if your lost pet is microchipped. Microchipping is available through HAL or the Beaufort County Animal Shelter for a small fee.
Found Pets
Found dog tips – from Dogs of America. Know what to do if you find a homeless dog. Many of these tips also apply to cats. HAL Facebook page is full of missing pet pictures and pleas. The Beaufort County Animal Services “should” have a complete list of lost and found pets.