Amber Alerts for Pets

by Stephanie Feldstein · 2010-04-07 11:00:00 UTC
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The search for lost pets is a frantic race against time. How do you balance canvassing the neighborhood with pulling  together pictures and printing posters before your pet ends up farther from home, picked up by a stranger, or hit by a car?

Once again, technology has come to the rescue.

Websites like FindToto.com or LostMyDoggie.com will send automated Amber Alert messages to your neighbors, getting the word out so you can focus on searching the streets and the local shelter. You can choose to have 250 to 10,000 neighbors called. Of course, there's a price for the service, but the packages ranging from $75-875 seem pretty fair. Even if you don't count the emotional cost of losing your pet, it costs money to print posters, offer a reward or bail your dog out of the shelter. If your dog is hit by a car, you can end up paying far more than $875 for vet care.

They can only pull listed home phone numbers in your area, so if a lot of your neighbors are cellphone-only types, they won't get the call. And if your dog or cat is really on the run, then the radius of calls might not reach far enough. It doesn't count as telemarketing, since they aren't selling anything, so these services aren't blocked from "Do Not Call" lists. And there's always the option for people to opt out of future contacts.

According to the companies, thousands of pets have been found thanks to these calls. They don't try to claim that you can purchase their services and then kick back with a beer and wait for your pet to return home. If your pet is lost, you have work to do while the calls are being made. Many pets don't get very far, so getting together a search party can be the quickest way to bring your dog or cat home again. The old-fashioned "Lost Pet" posters are still effective and you, or someone who knows your pet very well, needs to physically visit the shelter since verbal descriptions don't always match up with intake records. 

Make sure your pet is always wearing identification, even if she's microchipped. I've heard dozens of stories about dogs who weren't wearing their collars because they just had a bath, and that's the day they escaped from the yard. Don't leave your pet outside unsupervised; pet theft is more common than most people think.

All the technology in the world can't save your pet if you don't take responsibility for keeping him safe in the first place.

Photo credit: Ewan-M

Stephanie Feldstein is a Change.org Editor who has been part of the animal welfare and rescue community for over a decade, and most recently worked for an environmental organization.
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