This is Lily – Recovered through Pet FBI Facebook Post

This is Lily – Recovered through Pet FBI Facebook Post

Found dog reunited thru Pet FBI Facebook postThis darling Pomeranian was found in an area of Columbus Ohio known as German Village. This neighborhood has its own Facebook page and they posted to Pet FBI. Lily’s Mom found her by using the Facebook search box and inputting  “Found Pomeranian Columbus”.  And there was the post! This is a great tip. We will add it to our advice page.

So if you need to research lost and found pets in your area, just follow the example above to pinpoint information posted on Facebook quickly! But please note – it is critical to use the precise search terms.

Franco Back Home After Two Months…Another Database Reunion!

Cat Found after two months

Franco: Reunited after two+ months

Franco went missing in June. He slipped away from a cat-sitting friend. Needless to say it was pretty distressing for all concerned.

Fast forward five or six weeks. A Good Sam noticed him. He was so shy she thought he must be feral. Thank God for this Good Sam! She was persistent and after three weeks finally caught him using a humane trap. She took him to a vet to be scanned for a chip. No chip – but the vet told her about the Pet FBI database. He wasn’t in bad shape so she checked the last two months, July and August.  No match. Then she checked June. SCORE!!! He was found only a few blocks from where he went missing.

Object Lesson:
1. You may need to trap in order to catch a stray.
2. Persistence pays!
3. Most cats are found quite close to home.

Shelter Statistics or Why the Odds of Finding Your Lost Pet at a Shelter are Against You

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM: Most lost pets are reunited through a shelter.

REALITY CHECK: Relatively few strays are reclaimed before being euthanized or adopted out to others.

What is the recovery rate for stray dogs in shelters?Dog in Shelter

According to the ASPCA “About twice as many animals enter shelters as strays compared to the number that are relinquished by their owners. [2/3 vs. 1/3]” But only 17-30% of dogs are ever reclaimed by their owner. (See the ASPCA’s page on Shelter Statistics https://www.aspca.org/about-us/faq/pet-statistics)

 

What is the recovery rate for stray cats in shelters?cats in shelter

For cats the stats are truly appalling – only 2 – 5% of cats ever get reclaimed.

(See The Humane Society of the United States site: http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/pet_overpopulation/facts/pet_ownership_statistics.html ) In major metropolitan areas like Columbus, OH, for example, the numbers may even be worse. Of the 6,000+ cats taken in by Franklin County’s only open admission shelter in calendar year 2014, only 27 were successfully reunited and half of those only because they had a microchip.

Why is the recovery rate so low?

Given the odds against people getting to the shelter during that very small window of time when their pet might still be there, it is little wonder that the recovery rate is so low. Dogs have a better chance because they get picked up sooner and most states have laws requiring a minimum holding period for dogs. It may only be a few days or weeks for dogs, but in most states there is no mandated holding period for cats. In “kitten season” it is not unusual for a cat turned in to a shelter to be euthanized the same day. There is simply no holding space in adoption wards already full of more adoptable kittens.

What can be done to help people recover their lost pets in shelters?

If there were a generally accepted protocol for shelters of posting all strays to a public database it would save a lot of lives. This would spare people the trouble of having to get to one or more shelters almost every day when often the shelters are located on the other side of town and are only open at certain hours. Many sensitive people dread going to shelters and having to look at all those little faces knowing many if them are doomed.

Why Don’t Shelters Post Their Lost Pet Intakes?

Few shelters take advantage of available recent technology to post their intakes. Some shelter management software products have a module that facilitates posting lost pet intakes to the net, but they are usually very expensive and far out of reach for private humane societies. Fortunately, there are some free public databases that any shelter could use, including PetFBI.org. Which is strictly non-commercial and absolutely free, but there is a reluctance on the part of shelters to post stray intakes. The reason given is that they don’t want to invite “shopping”. Apparently there are people with dishonest motives who will claim a purebred dog, for example, with the intention of re-selling it. Or they will claim a breed of dog perceived as a “fighting” breed with the intention of fighting it. (Dog fighting is a cruel “sport” that is much more widespread than imagined.) But I find it hard to accept this reason as an obstacle to not posting strays. Surely, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks and people who claim an impounded animal have to pay a redemption fee. It is unlikely the same person would claim a pet fraudulently more than once.

How would posting lost pets to a public database help shelters?

A necessary condition of course would be that people know they can look online without having to call or come to the shelter. It would still be necessary to come in whenever there is a likely match, but people would be less likely to give up too soon. This would also ease things for shelters. If more of their “stray” intakes were reclaimed, it would lower their euthanasia rate, increase their adoption rate, and save them the trouble of dealing with repeated phone calls and visitors needing to go through the holding areas. Of course, there will always be some cases where it is absolutely necessary to go to the shelter (s). Many lost pets look so much alike.

Why Is There No Single Central Database?

Just as there is a national database for stolen cars, ideally, there would be one central database for lost and found pets. But realistically, this will never happen. There are multiple lost and found pet sites and most of them are for profit. Some offer useful contact services, like postcard mailings to many neighbors. Others offer services of dubious value like robo-calling or contacting shelters (You need to GO there in person!). Unfortunately a number of the online lost and found pet services are really just out to make a quick buck by exploiting people’s desperation. (This is possibly another factor why shelters are wary of online lost and found pet databases.)

What is a good resource for people who have lost or found a pet and for shelters? In 1998, Pet FBI was set up as a public database for individuals and shelters to use. Over the past 17 years it has evolved into the best designed and easiest to use public database online, strictly non-commercial and free. Pet families and Good Samaritans can readily connect before the stray needs to be turned into the shelter. There are many people who are hesitant to take a stray to the shelter because of the risks for the animal. Yet, the shelter is the obvious place a pet owner would look for their lost pet so shelters should have someone dedicated to searching reports of lost pets online. There are numerous sources of information besides the various databases. There are Facebook pages, Craigslist and newspaper classifieds. Even Twitter and Instagram are possible sources of information. Unfortunately, with the current state of affairs, anyone who has lost or found a pet needs to turn over many stones.

However, our experience with Pet FBI has shown that by achieving a critical mass of users reunion rates in excess of 35% for cats and 50% for dogs can be achieved. This is our documented success rate in Ohio where we have been helping people recover lost pets since 1998. In May of 2014 we overhauled the Pet FBI web site and database to service the entire United States and Puerto Rico. Already we have the largest database of lost and found pets anywhere online. (Just do a random comparative search!) Our national success rate is about 20% and growing steadily. In addition to the database we have comprehensive advice and contact information for other reliable resources. There is a great new feature: Once you post a report you will automatically be notified of any new potentially matching reports for 90 days. This system of automatic alerts is unique to Pet FBI.

Please help us save lives and by urging your local shelter to take advantage of this free resource. If they don’t want to use the Pet FBI database to post intakes, they should at least refer individuals to it.

More users = more happy reunions!

Jenquah Reunited Thanks to …..(read on!)

This beautiful cocker spaniel, Jenquah, was reunited with this family after just a few days thanks to
1) Ryan, the Good Samaritan who rescued him and fostered him until he could be reunited with his family directly. He posted info about the dog to the Pet FBI Facebook page…

2. Teresa, a Pet FBI “Private Agent” who follows the Pet FBI Ohio Facebook page and cross-posts and cross-checks lost and found reports. It was she who contacted Ryan and urged him to give the complete information required so his post would go from the side bar to the more visible main timeline…

3. Char, our devoted Facebook administrator who spends hours daily vetting posts and seeing that all the posts on our timeline have complete, actionable information…

4. Another “Good Sam,” (whose name, appropriately, IS “Sam”!), the astute and dedicated Franklin County Animal Shelter worker who follows the Pet FBI Facebook page. So when Jenquah’s family came to the shelter to look for him he was able to tell them about the Facebook post. Result: happy ending!

JenquaObject Lesson:  –If you decide to foster a stray while seeking its owner in order to spare the pet the stress and risks attendant in giving the pet over to a shelter, at least leave full information about the pet with the shelters ASAP. Most shelters have a lost and found bulletin board and, after all, the shelter is the obvious place someone who has lost a pet would check.

— When you post to a Facebook page or Craigslist or any other free-form media, including posters, be sure to give complete, actionable information: full description of pet, when lost, where lost specifically and good accurate  information!

BIG NEWS! Pet FBI Lost and Found Pet Database Enhancement

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT FROM PET FBI’s DIRECTOR:
Starting today, August 5, we are instituting a huge new time-saving feature for our database users. We are confident this enhancement will result in many more reunions. From now on, when you submit a lost or found pet report to the Pet FBI database, you will automatically receive information on any new potentially matching reports.

Here’s how it works: Suppose you submit a lost cat report. If a “found cat report” is submitted with a zip code within 100 miles of the zip you used in your report, you will be notified. New Report Alerts will be emailed daily, unless there is nothing new, and they will continue for 90 days from the day you submit your report or until you “unsubscribe”. Here’s a sample:

Found Dogs for 7/29/2015 within 100 miles of Zip Code 43002

Sample New Report Alert

The new reports will not be filtered by sex or color since people so often make mistakes about these characteristics. So you may get some extra information but that is better than missing that one critical report because someone thought your neutered male cat was a female. In any case, the New Report Alerts will be easy to skim and you will be saved the bother of having to do a manual search every day to see if there is anything new.

It will still be possible of course to do a manual search. If your report has not resulted in a reunion after 90 days, you can continue to look and even extend the search radius to 250 miles.

We would love to hear back from you if you have any suggestions about the New Report Alert or about anything else on Pet FBI.
Thanks to Glen, our ace volunteer database programmer who put a lot of work and thought into this!
With best wishes for a happy reunion,
Maresa, Pet FBI Director/Volunteer