If a shelter does not list every pet in its care online and make every pet available for the public to see, owners of lost pets may not be able to reclaim their pets. If a pound has a policy that dogs confiscated in dogfighting busts are not available to the public but instead held as evidence until legally released and then killed, owners of lost dogs may not be able to reclaim their dogs. One very good reason for shelters to list every pet online – including fight bust dogs – and make them available for the public to see is that it allows owners of lost dogs to find them.
Case in point: A family in NC had their Pitbull stolen from their yard in October. They searched for their dog, Morgan, but could not find her. About a month later, local police arrested 2 people on felony dogfighting charges and seized 5 Pitbulls. When the local paper reported on the story, it was front page news and the paper included a photo of one of the seized dogs at the Cleveland Co shelter. That dog was Morgan. The owners saw her face and ran down to the shelter to reclaim her.
I called the Cleveland Co shelter to ask if they post ALL their pets – including fight bust dogs – online and was told they do not. They do have a page that lists recent impounds but there are no photos. I asked specifically if the owners had not seen Morgan’s picture in the paper, would they have had any way of finding her. I was told no, the owners would never have been able to find the dog had her picture not appeared in the paper.
I looked at the shelter’s 2010-2011 annual report and for dogs and cats, the Cleveland Co shelter’s kill rate was 88%. Nearly as tragic, their return to owner rate was only 4%. The pound has no weekend hours and, depending on the weekday, is only open either 12 – 4pm or 2 to 4pm. Clearly the practices Cleveland Co has in place are not working to save pets’ lives. The lady who answered the phone there did mention they were hoping to list all their pets online in the future and I voiced support for the idea.
In this case, the newspaper photo was key for the owner finding the lost dog. Obviously most owners are not going to be lucky enough to have their lost pet’s face show up on the front page of the local paper. What about your local shelter – do they list ALL their pets online, include dogs being held as evidence in court cases? I am waiting for a response from my local municipal shelter regarding this question and will share what I find out.