New website reunites owners with lost pets

Saturday, 23 June 2012 by Terryn Kelly

The McLennan Animal Resuce Coalition is sponsoring a website to help owners reunite with their lost pets.The McLennan Animal Rescue Coalition is sponsoring a website to help owners who have lost their pets reunite.

The site is free and covers a 14 county area of Central Texas. Although the site has only been up for a few weeks, there have already been four cases which have been a success.

Volunteers can post sightings of a pet that appears to be lost. The website is also linked to Facebook; their page is titled Centex Lost Pets.

"We do not post contact information in Facebook," Treasurer for the McLennan Animal Rescue Coalition Lisa Dragoo said. "We refer people back to the website if they need to contact the person who posted the animal. Eventually, as we get more volunteer help, we want to have more Facebook pages dedicated specifically to animals in each town."

Dragoo is the person who decided there must be a better way to reunite owners and their pets faster before other actions must be taken.

"In a brainstorming session with the former adoption manager at Humane Society of Central Texas here in Waco, I commented how nice it would be for people who lost pets and the people who found them to make a connection before the animal had to be taken to the shelter," Dragoo said. "I searched on the Internet for ideas and found this site already in use in North Carolina. Through some generous donors, I had a copy of the site made for our area."

Even with the website available, Dragoo still thinks owners should proceed to post flyers or posters with the missing pet on them. They should also call their animal control officer and visit their local shelters daily to look for their pets.

The quicker an animal is found the better. Since shelters are only a temporary home, the animal may have to be put down in order to make space for the growing number of animals that come in to the shelters on a daily basis.

"We are trying to get the word out about the website," Dragoo said. "If everyone is looking in the same place, it is so easy to make the match. If the lost pet can be reunited with its owner, it doesn't have to be taken to the shelter."

For more information visit the website at www.centexlostpets.org.

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