What to do when you find a stray animal or lost pet

After I contacted Tinah, she sent me this information on what to do when you find a stray or lost pet. It is really helpful. I have just copied and pasted below. I hope you'll at least skim through:

IF YOU HAVE FOUND AN ANIMAL WITH NO VISIBLE IDENTIFICATION HERE ARE SUGGESTED STEPS TO HELP REUNITE ANIMAL WITH OWNER OR POSSIBLY GET ANIMAL INTO RESCUE OR ADOPT TO A NEW HOME. IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO JUST KEEP A FOUND ANIMAL, STEPS TO FIND OWNER MUST BE FOLLOWED.

IMMEDIATELY, Take animal to vet or local shelter to be scanned for a chip, in knoxville you may take it to Young Williams off of Sutherland, scan animal (if animal is microchipped shelter will put you in contact with company to reunite animal with owner--best case scenario--PLEASE MICROCHIP YOUR ANIMALS, CAN BE DONE FOR $20 AT YW OR THEIR CHIP WEEKEND PROGRAMS) and place contact info in the found dog book. Also check the lost dog book while there. Once listed, if you have the ability to hold animal, you can take the animal back home with you to foster during the legal found notification period of 10 ays. IF you cannot commit to some or all of this minimum period then leave animal at the shelter and hope owner finds it or it makes it to the adoption floor. FYI, less than 10 percent of animals turned in to shelter as stray are reunited with their owners. Shelters are only required to hold stray animals for 3 days and depending on animal or space, at that point either goes to adoption floor or is euthanized.

MUST DO: List animal as found in several area locations whether or not you keep animal to foster OR leave at shelter. Many people don't think to look at the shelter so by doing this you are either fulfilling the legal obligation to hold animal for owner or advertising animal was found and where these people need to look, who to contact or alerting them to go to shelter. If not in knoxville area, follow these steps in your area/shelter/paper.
a. list in book at shelter (Young Williams is the local Knoxville city shelter and is located off of Sutherland Ave, about 2 blocks east of Concord intersection on the north side of street) and online at www.knoxpets.org
b. place ad on craigslist (leave out one pertinent piece for identification to make sure true owners contact you)

c. place ad in local paper--free for 3 days in Knoxville News Sentinel. Call classifieds by 11 am and you can generally get it in next day.

d. put up posters in local grocery store, on telephone poles in main streets/intersections/area where found, put up flyer in the local pet store.

e. If animal is in good condition, not chipped, possibly owned, you might even contact vets in your area to see if it matches up any of their clients.

f. get the word out, facebook, emails, etc.....


ONLY AFTER THIS 10 day notification time has been completed and you have tried everything to reunite animal with owner, can you LEGALLY KEEP or advertise animal to place. A good general listing of rescues by breed can be found at East Tennessee Border Collie Website or you can google search the breed and Knoxville TN. Most rescues desperately need fosters, so be proactive. Contact friends, co-workers, facebook friends, family, neighbors and see if anyone can help you keep this dog safe until an adoptive family or rescue can get it to safety. It is a committment but well worth the investment. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, SHELTERS AND RESCUES URGENTLY NEEDS FOSTERS TO HELP. Fostering is rewarding and easy. Just takes time and patience.

This info is geared towards dogs but works for all found animals. If you find an animal and consider it your responsibility to help this animal, then minimum steps are needed to make this happen. Rescues or the shelter will do their best to work with you but you will be a vital piece in this puzzle, you have taken the first step, it is up to you to help follow through.

***If crates or such are needed good places to look are garage sales, ask your local shelter/friends/neighbors for a loaner, goodwill, craigslist and newspaper classifieds. You can get them pretty cheap, most break down for storage and you never know when you might need one.