Text system wants missing pets to go from Lost2Found
More than 60 percent of lost dogs and cats in Sacramento, Calif., never make it back home.
That heartbreaking statis- tic lit a fire under staffers at the city’s Front Street Animal Shelter. They developed an automated text messag- ing system that they believe has the potential to reunite pets and their human companions across the country, and they introduced it at a national Humane Society of the United States meeting recently in Kansas City.
Their payoff ? A $250,000 investment from America’s largest animal welfare organizations. The shelter will use the money to roll out the program, called Lost2Found.
It was the biggest cash award given in Petco Foundation’s “Innovation Showdown” at the Animal Care Expo in Kansas City. The “showdown,” presented live on Facebook in the style of the popular television show “Shark Tank,” drew more than 200 contestants from across the United States and beyond.
Front Street was one of three finalists for a total of $350,000 in award money. The other two were HeartsSpeak, a national group that uses art to draw attention to shelter animals; and St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Cen- ter, a rescue organization in New Jersey.
Front Street staffers Bobby Mann and Ryan Hinderman pitched Lost2Found on the bigstagetoapanelof ani- mal experts, including “Cat Daddy” Jackson Galaxy from Animal Planet.
They told the judges that two out of three lost pets in Sacramento never are reunited with their owners, often because people lack details about how to track down their pets.
They might check their local shelter once or twice, or post fliers. Then they give up. Shelters fill with those dogs and cats, and “the situation is not sustainable,” Hinderman said.
Once Lost2Found is up and running, pet owners whose dogs or cats are missing can text the word “stray” to a sixdigitn umber. They quickly will receive links to help them locate their dog or cat, along with tips and videos. Subsequent messages will encourage them to keep looking, and offer more suggestions.
Fr o nt Street also has designed a refrigera tormagnet that it plans to send to every resident of Sacramento, listing resources for locating lost pets.
Lost2Found should be fully operational by July 1.
MEMORIALIZE YOUR PET
Do you have a beloved pet that has passed away? You can honor a pet with Pet Memorial to be printed in the newspaper on our Pet Spot page. The memorial will include a photo. For more information, call 937-223-1515 or email coh.classified@coxinc.com.