Paws & Pages
Find out how to maximize your efforts for finding a missing pet.
If anyone follows any of the public pet pages on Facebook such as Imperial Valley: Lost and Found Pets or if anyone has been at the Humane Society of Imperial County right when we open at 10 a.m., you will quickly learn that Imperial Valley is full of lost pets. Unfortunately, many of these lost pets are never reunited with their families.
When they are found roaming the streets, many are picked up by Animal Control officers. Each city has its own Animal Control department and there is also a department for the unincorporated cities and the unincorporated areas of each city. All Animal Control agencies in Imperial County are required by law to place the animals under a stray hold for a minimum of four consecutive business days (not including the day of impoundment) in hopes that the owners will claim them. If they are not claimed within the allotted amount of time, then they are brought to the Humane Society where they are scanned for microchips, behaviorally assessed, vaccinated, de-wormed, given a flea and tick preventative, and then made available for adoption or sent to rescue groups outside of the county if they are not adopted.
Although many of the animals that come into our care had families who did not care enough to look for them, there still are many people within our community who take every measure possible to find their lost pets. Many of them will contact the Humane Society and every Animal Control agency in the county. They will post flyers, contact local radio stations, post in public online forums, and some will even run ads in the Imperial Valley Press. Sadly, there are too many cases where no matter what the worried parent of the lost pet does, sometimes they are never reunited. Lately, we have had a few instances where owners have come into
our shelter looking for their pets after several days, several weeks, or even months of looking and they were found!
Unfortunately, not all reunions are happy. Last week we received a very sick dog from one of the local Animal Control agencies. A concerned pet owner who had lost a dog called the following day and we explained that we had received a dog from the same city that the owner lost the dog in and that he fit the same description, but the dog we had was very ill. We asked the owner to come to our shelter and identify the dog right away. Sadly, the dog was theirs and seeing him in such bad shape broke their hearts. After attempting treatment, the very sick doggy did not pull through. His family was absolutely devastated – even our staff was brought to tears by the whole situation. Although it is uncertain exactly what caused their dog to become so ill after being in good health just a week before (which was the day he became lost), there are many things that our pets can encounter while running at large on the streets that can pose a serious threat to their health, and even their lives. This was an experience that none of us will ever forget.
We urge all pet owners who have lost a pet to make contact with us and all local Animal Control agencies and to please bring in flyers for us to post in our offices. Spaying and neutering pets is also a good way to ensure that they stay home. When they do not have the urge to mate, they do not have the urge to stray away from home. Please always make sure that pets have proper identification on properly fitted collars that have tags with the pet owner’s current contact information. The Humane Society of Imperial County strongly recommends that all pets (inside and out) be microchipped. We believe that it is better to be safe than sorry. The chip contains the pet’s information and can be set up to show the owner’s contact information when the microchip number that is on the tag is entered into the Google search bar. When stray pets that are microchipped are scanned, the owner can easily and quickly be contacted. Pets can be microchipped at the Humane Society during our regular business hours for a one-time fee of only $25 and includes a lifetime registration.
Believe when we say that losing a pet and never knowing what has happened to him or her is one of the worst feelings a pet owner could feel. We encourage all pet owners who have lost a pet to never give up. Continue your search because you never know who will walk through our doors.