News from the Humane Society of Elmore County | News

Humane Society of Elmore County News – 6 Aug ‘12

Rea Cord

Director

     Have you ever found a lost pet and wondered what to do? We hear far too often how someone has found a pet and just decided to keep it or assume it has been dumped or mistreated. Our guidance from dealing with well over 3500 ‘stray’ animals each year is to be very careful jumping to conclusions.
     First – if you find a pet you have a legal and moral requirement to try and reunite it with its owner. You never know if there is a grieving child missing their beloved pet or even another pet missing its lifelong buddy. In Alabama shelters are required to hold stray dogs and cats for seven days to allow an owner the opportunity to find their missing pet. Any ‘finder’ out there needs to work within that law and also perform due diligence in finding that pet’s owner. While you are keeping the pet safe you should be looking in the area for signs an owner may have posted, place your own signs/ads in the area, take the pet to a nearby veterinarian or shelter so it can be scanned for a microchip and, check out and post in local newspapers, local radio stations and on-line resources such as Facebook (post to our shelter FB, Lost & Found Pet in Elmore County FB and your own FB) and the various lost & found pet websites. And also call our shelter at 334-567-3377, or email us at hselco@bellsouth.net or we have a lost/found report you can fill in on our website at www.elmorehumane.org; you might be surprised how often we are able to link up lost and found pets which just makes our day!
     Of course if the pet has a rabies tag or other identification, then getting the pet home will hopefully be a lot easier. Just call the veterinarian noted on the tag and read them the year of the tag and tag number and in most cases that pet can be back with its owner the same day. If there are no tags, check the collar for phone numbers that may be written on it and check both sides of the collar. If no ID, then take to a vet or a shelter for a microchip scan. But remember, no matter how cute or sweet the pet to you, NOT calling the pet’s vet or identification information could be considered theft so do your part to help reunite a lost pet with its, hopefully, caring owner.
     Another caution is jumping to conclusions about the pet’s owner or past. A ‘coated’ dog like a Poodle or Havenese might be all dirty and matted, but a few days in the woods or running through mud puddles could cause that. And the skinny dog you assumed someone dumped could be one that has been lost for a month or more. Or someone may have just rescued a pet from a bad situation so it doesn’t look so well when you find it. Dogs, especially, can also travel quite a long distance in a short time, so don’t discount a lost sign many miles away as ‘not the same pet.’ And sadly pets are stolen, so the pet you found just might have been missing from someone else for quite a long period of time or from a very long way away.
     Bottom line on finding a lost pet is to not assume too much and to do everything you can to get it back to its rightful owner. For those of us who love our pets, nothing is worse than never knowing what happened to that missing pet. Granted, there are lousy pet owners as well and some animals that get lost do end up in much better circumstances, but in most cases there is a grieving pet family who would dearly love to have their pet back safe and sound.

     Dog Breed Info: Dachshunds are recognized by their long bodies and short legs which allows them to enter and maneuver through tunnels underground. They are very brave, curious and somewhat stubborn, and have an independent tendency, especially when hunting. Dachshunds like to enter into the spirit of everything you do and are playful dogs, but they insist on you following their rules of play like loving to chase balls, but not necessarily bringing them back to you. They are often one-person dogs, meaning they bond very closely with their master. Dachshunds come in a multitude of colors, sizes and coat types, so do a bit of homework first to see all your options before adding one of these wonderful dogs to your family.