Applicable to any U.S. area -- Applicable to some International areas

animal-pounds.com
LOST PETS
Who -- What -- Where -- Why -- How

VI.  HOW TO CHANGE THE LOST
and SURRENDERED PET SYSTEM
Applicable to any U.S. area --  Applicable to some International areas

    I.  Lost Pets - attitudes, issues, beliefs
   II.   Where lost pets go; animal behaviors; statistics; problems
  III.   Which facility may eventually get your pet and why
  IV.  How to search for a lost pet
   V.  Example Search Schedule, Simplified
  VI.  How to change the system You are here

          Section VI tip: The pet impoundment system is a mess.
          Most agencies are trying to fix it but the fact is we still kill millions
          of lost and abandoned dogs and cats every year.

          In this section, here are example questions to ask yourself:
          What happens to pets in pounds, shelters, etc.?
          How do I find the numbers; how do I prove them?          
          What can one person easily do?
          Many answers are found throughout this website.

Our information has been carefully checked many times, from many angles; however, laws change, facilities change, numbers change, situations change. Everything you read here about the lost pet impoundment system can be verified or proven erroneous as you work to find your pet; you will find tips here on how to verify information as you learn how to accomplish a serious search.

We encourage you to verify verify verify. Read this entire website, all dozen or so main pages, to have your best chance at success.

Note:
Some information in this report is difficult to cope with and not for the faint of heart; plan for an efficient search; it can take weeks or months to find the lost.

Although this document is written mostly in reference to dogs and cats, the principles can be applied to other critters as well. Use your best judgment regarding your particular lost pet and conduct your search accordingly.

D. FACILITY QUESTIONS. In addition to the above very basic questions to ask of municipalities, you will also want to ask the following questions of the animal facilities themselves. Most facilities operate according to the individual municipality’s ordinances, and those regulations may be different in each municipality:

1.  Who actually goes out and picks up the animals? (city employee?  contractor?  Police --- from which municipality?)

2.  Where are healthy animals kept? (Ask for the facility name, address and phone number).

3.   Where are dead bodies held? Are people who have lost pets told about and allowed to view them?

4.  Where are ill or injured animals kept?  Are all persons looking for a lost pet told about the ill and injured areas and allowed to view them?

5.  Who keeps inventory of each area, and are visitors allowed to see all of the lists (cats, dogs, ill/injured, dead, calls from people having lost or found pets)? Are visitors told to view all lists since mistakes can happen (dogs on cat lists, cats on dog lists; wrong gender, wrong breed, wrong color, wrong or no collar)?

6.  Do you have a veterinarian on staff for ill and injured animals?  How often does the veterinarian visit the facility?  Does the veterinarian come in immediately for emergency care?  On weekends or holidays?  Who takes care of ill and injured when no veterinarian is available?  What happens if an animal is brought in with massive injuries on a Thursday night of a four-day holiday weekend?

7.  Who hand-feeds baby animals or others unable to eat on their own?  (Or are water and dry food simply put into food dishes and if they eat they eat, if they don’t they don’t?).

8.  How long are healthy animals kept?  Ill or injured?

9.  How many animals were impounded last year?

10.  How does this facility euthanize (“humanely kill”)?  
--lethal injection (ask which kind … the kind that paralyzes
       the animal for a few minutes before it dies; or the 
       kind that immediately renders the animal unconscious;
       is the shot given in the leg, heart, or elsewhere?)
--gas (ask for details).
--decompression chamber (ask for details). 
--electrocution (ask for details).
--other (ask for details).

11.  What happens to animals when their time is up (list separately for cats, dogs, other species):
% adopted
% claimed by owners
% DOA (dead on arrival)
% surrendered for research*
% euthanized 
% other (ask if they have “other” categories and what they are).

*Federal law requires government pounds to surrender animals for research (not all obey – ask your local impoundment facilities if they do or do not, and how they avoid it).  For a list of legally-registered research labs which use animals in research, as well as animal suppliers, call your Federal offices and ask for the Federal Register of research labs and dealers.

12. Who euthanizes the animals?
--veterinarian
--experienced staff
--entry-level employees
--other? (ask) 

13. How are the dead bodies disposed of?
--burial (where?) 
--crematory*
--rendering plant
--other (ask).
     *Note: When a pet dies and is cremated, ashes returned to the owner might be a mix of all animals cremated at that time. To ensure that only your own pet's ashes are returned to you, be sure to ask; you may need to pay an additional fee, since cremating individually is very expensive. Also be aware that the returned "ashes" are not simply ashes, but also bones. This is because if the crematory heat is high enough to turn the bones to ashes, they would simply vaporize and there would be no ashes left. If you want ashes-only, an additional fee would likely apply since the bones would have to be hand-crushed.

14.  Call your State Patrol office and ask who picks up live or dead animals on State freeways, and what happens to these animals. Also call county Sheriff's offices for information about county highways and rural areas. Call highway departments and sanitation departments to find out if either picks up deceased animals on the streets and highways, and if so, what is done with the remains, and whether records are kept.

15.  Keep in mind that any animal from anywhere in your larger area could end up stranded and desperate in your yard. If this happens, how will you help?

16.  As you summarize your information, try to determine if a facility is:
--animal pound: (city, county, police department,
        private contractor, state patrol, other);
--contractor (kennel, boarding kennel, purebred kennel, cattery,
        veterinarian, other )
--shelter (kill, no-kill, rescue, foster) 
--temporary animal holding facility
--warden  (city contractor, private, county, police, state patrol, other)
--other facility or contractor.
     NOTE:  Some of the above also act as research suppliers (you will ferret these out as you do your information searches).  Continued below ....

A few examples of how pets get around: 
a)  Neighbors, “friends” and family members have been known to “get rid of” pets they see as  aggravating, dropping them off away from home.
b)  Cats and dogs have been known to sneak into cars or trunks and then run when the door is opened … miles from home.
c)  Even a small dog or cat can lope indefinitely at 3 miles per hour … meaning in only 8 hours,  that animal could be 24 miles away.  And most pets lose their sense of direction easily, once a short ways from home.
d)  Some municipalities contract their animal control whose wardens pick up and transport pets many miles away from home to another area’s facility, sometimes crossing through various other impoundment areas.