Missing People vs. Lost Pets – How the Search Differs

When a person gets lost, 911 is contacted and the person’s family receives sympathy and support. Assistance is offered whether it’s asked for or not! When it comes to losing pets, things seem different. Here’s some of what happens when a pet is lost. How do you think each examples compares to lost people? 

1. There is no “911”. Instead there are locations like pounds, rescue groups, or humane societies where a found pet could end up. 

2. Pet owners usually experience a form of grief that’s unacceptable to others. In other words they can be shunned by friends and family who don’t care that much about animals and tell the pet owner to “get over it.” 

3. Typically, the pet owner is blamed and considered irresponsible for their pet running lose even if it was an accident beyond their control. 

4. When a lost dog is found, it’s common that the rescuer self-adopts the pet or turns it over to an organization that will find the dog a new home without making effort to find the original owner. 

5. When a pet is lost, there’s no one to call or to assist in the search effort. 

6. Burden is on the pet owner to take action to find their lost pet and relying on people who are untrained in lost pet behavior or in the differences of how to search for a missing dog vs. a missing cat is a major contributing factor to the homeless pet population. 

7. Assistance is usually refused when a pet owner calls and asks someone to come out and help them search for their missing pets. 

8. No nonprofit has existed for the purpose of missing pet education or in developing lost pet services. 

9. Reasoning is rarely used when searching for lost pets. Untrained owners follow gut instincts and use no reasoning and do everything from stapling dirty underwear to trees to leaving a scent trail for their pet to follow. Basically they use acts of desperation. 

10. Microchip systems are in place that could be used to identify pets but only a small amount of pet owners use them. 

11. Animal Control Officers do NOT scan a carcass they find on the road for microchips and neither do road crews. 

12. The problem of “homeless pets” is only being addressed through aggressive spay/neuter education for unwanted dogs and cats. However, there are many reasons why pets become homeless, including lost pets that are never found.