Lost Pets in the East Valley – Next Steps

Posted February 24, 2021 by Sieb

There are few things more scary, stressful and heart wrenching than when a beloved pet escapes your care. Are you prepared? What are your next steps? Luckily, East Valley pet owners have robust resources to help locate their lost pets. We’ve put together a list of steps to take and resources to contact; many resources use advanced technology to create databases and help spread the word rapidly about lost or found animals.

Maricopa County recommends the following steps:

1. Maricopa County Lost/Found Pet – The Maricopa County Animal Care & Control has a map containing information representative of stray dogs that have been impounded at MCACC shelters within the past three days ONLY. All pet owners seeking the whereabouts of their lost pets are advised to visit, in person, the MCACC shelter facilities daily to ensure their safe return.
   https://www.maricopa.gov/162/Lost-Found-Pet
2. Pet Harbor – The county lists all animals that are found on the Pet Harbor website. Any animals that do not have any identification (licenses or microchips) can only be kept at the county facility for 72 hours. After that, the animal may become available to the public. You can look to adopt a pet on the Pet Harbor website.
   http://petharbor.com/
3. Keep looking. Many pets that are found by residents may not bring the animal to a shelter for several days.
4. Post flyers in the neighborhood. Free sample flyer is available here:
   https://www.maricopa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/188/Lost-or-Found-a-Pet-Flyer-PDF?bidId=
5. NextDoor – Join the NextDoor online community to access important information in your neighborhood, including lost and found pets.
   https://nextdoor.com/
6. Call the Maricopa County Lost and Found Department at 602-372-4598.
7. Use one of the social media or free networking sources listed below:
   • Straydar on Facebook
     For lost dogs in Arizona, with 76.6K members
     https://www.facebook.com/groups/Straydar
   • Lost Dogs of Arizona
     Public Group page for Arizona with 41.7K members
     https://www.facebook.com/groups/LDOAZ/
   • Finding Rover
     This seems like a good idea—”Keep your dog safe with Finding Rover, a facial recognition app that scans the unique features of your dog’s face and keeps it on file in case your dog ever gets lost. The app is free to register on your iPhone, Android devices, and on the Web. When your dog is lost, you can report your lost dog in the app and Finding Rover can alert a network of partners, such as dog organizations, nearby members, and social media outlets. And if you see a lost dog, you can report it by snapping a photo of the dog and uploading it into the app. The app is able to do a facial recognition search in its database. If there’s a match, the owner’s contact info pops up.”
     https://findingrover.com/
   • Lost Dogs, Cats & Pets Mesa, AZ
     Based in Mesa, AZ, this page was created by PawBoost to help find fur babies in Mesa, with more than 7,000 followers
     https://www.facebook.com/LostPetsMesaAZ/
   • Lost My Doggie
     Enter your zip code and the radius in miles in this national registry to help locate your pet. Uses a pet amber alert system.
     https://www.lostmydoggie.com/missing-pets.cfm?petkindid=1&alerttypeid=1&zipcode=85201&radius=50

Use sites where you can create a free listing and be cautious of sites that charge money in case of scam listings. Most of the resources we found, however, are completely legitimate and run by animal lovers.

Keep your pets safe, make sure they are registered and microchipped!

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