• savethesaveable.com
  • LOGIN

No Kill Pima County

  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT US
    • THE CHALLENGE
    • THE SOLUTION
    • NATIONAL RESOURCES
    • RECENT POSTS
    • CONTACT
  • COMMUNITY RESOURCES
    • LOST AND FOUND
      • LOST A PET
      • FOUND A PET
      • MICROCHIPS
      • WILDLIFE RESCUE
    • FOR YOUR PETS
      • SPAY AND NEUTER
      • VACCINES, LOW COST CLINICS AND DENTALS
      • PET FOOD ASSISTANCE
      • FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE, INSURANCE, FUNDRAISING
      • WHEN TO CALL THE VETERINARIAN
      • PLANNING FOR YOUR PETS WHEN YOU CANNOT CARE FOR THEM
    • WHAT TO DO
      • FERAL CATS
        (TRAP NEUTER RETURN)
      • MOVING WITH YOUR PET
        • APARTMENT DIRECTORY
      • EMERGENCY HOUSING
      • RE-HOME A PET
      • FOUND INFANT KITTENS
      • BOTTLE FEEDING KITTENS
    • BEHAVIOR
      • PET TRAINING & EDUCATION
      • ONLINE TRAINING RESOURCES
      • LOCAL GROUP TRAINING CLASSES
  • VOLUNTEER
    • OPTIONS
    • INTEREST SURVEY
  • SHOP
Donate
  • No products in cart.
 March 8, 2021

When I Saw A Stray

When I Saw A Stray

by Marcie Velen / Friday, 05 February 2021 / Published in Blog

by Carmel Gisslow

Last year, I was on a run on the University of Arizona campus when I noticed a dog wandering around the campus mall off leash. The dog looked healthy and was wearing a collar, so I assumed its owner was right around the corner. At first, I ran past the dog, but stopped and turned around once I realized there wasn’t anyone else near me on campus. The dog had taken off running and was crossing a busy intersection on Campbell Ave. Instinctually, I sprinted over to make sure the six lanes of speeding cars would come to a stop so the dog could pass safely. I frantically sprinted out into the intersection pointing to the dog. All the traffic stopped, but the dog took off sprinting into the nearby Sam Hughes neighborhood.

At this point, I was in a complete panic, worried for the well-being of the dog and absolutely clueless as to what I could do to help. I quickly posted on the Nextdoor app and later in the evening, received a few replies from other people of sightings of the same dog. After that I really had no idea what else I could do to help except wait and see if there were any updates.

 

A few days later, I noticed a lost dog sign with a photo of the dog I’d seen, a contact number, a website, as well as the instructions in all caps stating, “DO NOT CHASE”. I contacted both of the numbers and they gave me instructions to simply call again if I’d spotted him. From this moment on, I was motivated to find ways to make it easier on others to know what to do if they see/find a lost animal in Tucson.

What I’ve Learned Since:

Since this incident, I’ve learned that the majority of cats and dogs that get brought into local shelters are never reunited with their owners. This means that anything that we as a community can do to improve that outcome will be a win-win for pets, owners, and shelters. I’ve also learned that Pima Animal Care Center is made up of 60% stray animals, and only ¼ of those will be reunited with their owner (mostly dogs, few cats). So, in addition to more people needing to check the shelters for their lost pet, more can be done to help reunite pets before they ever get to a shelter. Especially during this time of COVID-19, it’s so important to try all different options before resorting to shelters who are trying to limit at their intakes at this time.

I have also learned there is a lot of information, resources and even people who would help to trap a scared dog, if you know where to go.

If this happened to you, would you have known what to do?

Or would you have known where to go to learn more about it? If you think you would’ve been anything like me in this situation, you may have found yourself confused and lost trying to figure out next steps.

How can you help:

If you can, bring the pet to a vet or shelter for a free micro-ship scanning (and possibly an immediate return to owner).

Report a found pet so there is a record if the owner comes/calls/reports a missing pet →

  • Pima Animal Care Center Lost/Found Pets
  • Humane Society of Southern Arizona Lost/Found Pets

 

Check out the Found Pet page and links at Nokillpimacounty.org for info about making signs, posting on multiple Facebook pages (including asking for help to catch the pet), how to catch scared cats and timid dogs and more →

  • NKPC Found Pet Info and Resources
  • NKPC Lost Pet Info and Resources

Takeaways:

The biggest takeaway I got from this experience was that knowing what you can do to help before you’re in a position where you’ve found an animal is crucial to helping these animals get reunited with their owners. We as a community can do this by spreading awareness early on. It took me experiencing a personal crisis with a lost pet to spread awareness, but it doesn’t have to come to that. Be informed and share what you know with others in our community.

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

  • Tweet

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Find us on Facebook

Find us on Facebook

Recent Posts

  • Support Options for Pet Owners/Caretakers

    NKPC’s “Support, Options and Solutions (S...
  • Lost Pets Initiative 2018 Review

    No Kill Pima County started the Lost Pets Initi...
  • PACC Data, Focus on Adoption Returns

    In our recent 2017-2018 PACC Outcomes Report we...
  • Town of Sahuarita Animal Services, First Year In Review

    In July 2017 the Town of Sahuarita began provid...
  • Town of Marana Animal Services- First year in review.

    The Town of Marana began providing it’s own Ani...

Subscribe to our Newsletter

  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • Community Resources
  • Shop
  • POSTS
  • savethesaveable.com
  • CONTACT
  • VOLUNTEER
  • DONATE
© Copyright 2018 No Kill Pima County. All rights reserved. Web Design Tucson by Alisha Escoto
TOP
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.