Help! I found an animal what are the next steps?
I have been involved with animals my whole life. One of the ways that I often try to give back is by helping animals whenever possible! One of the things that unfortunately happens from time to time is animals get out and are found by wonderful people. Often people are unsure of what to do. I will give a lot of information based on dogs as those are the animals that I have the most experiences with.
The first thing I do is access the situation and the surroundings. You want to protect yourself and not cause further harm to the animal. I look for people who may be near that would be the owner of the pet. If no one is around I start to look at how the animal (dog) is acting. Is the animal injured? Is the animal showing signs of distress (limping, leg lifted, or blood)? If they seem to be just loose I proceed to try and get low and call them to me. One of the first things I do is get low and make myself less of a threat. I would say come, and make noises. If the animal start to come my way I let them come closer to me. Once they are closer I pay very close attention to how the dog is acting towards me. Is the dog barking at me? Is the dog showing signs of being friendly? If so I will continue. If the dog shows aggression, growling, hair raised. I start to back away. This is an unknown animal and you need to be cautious for your own safety. If they are showing aggression please back up and start to get to a safe location. One thing I do at this point is decide if calling animal control officers would help and I watch the animal from a distance.
Once the dog has come closer to me, I extend a closed hand to the dog. The reason a close hand is so that a finger isn’t lost if they decide to bite. Take things slow and let the dog or animal get used to you being near. Typically if they are close to me I check for a collar or tags. I then use a slip lead and put on the dog. This is typically what veterinarians use as the dog (animal) can’t back out of a lead as it tightens as they pull. If you don’t already have one your veterinarian would most likely give you one for free. If they are under the lead I just relax and see how the dog reacts. Once the lead is on, I think try to take a further look at tags, read phone numbers etc. This is also a time to see if the dog needs attention. Is it hot out and they are panting heavily? Is the animal needing veterinary care I immediately take the dog to the vet.
Now that you have control of the dog if he is just relaxing with you. I take out my phone and snap a photo. I do this at the location of picking the dog up so I know the area and the exact location. My iPhone takes GPS information with each image. I then start to further look around the area. Is someone yelling for a dog? What’s in the close proximity to where the dog was found? Is there a big gate that is open? I take the dog and look for anything out of ordinary. If people are nearby I ask if they recognize the animal or have seen them before. If they don’t have the information that can assist in getting the animal home faster.
If the animal doesn’t have any tags or visible marks, the next thing that I do is start to find a nearby location that can assist with scanning for a microchip. This is a small item that has a series of numbers on them. It’s embedded in the animal and is scanned by a scanner and takes a few seconds. The hope is that they have a number and usually they will tell you how to contact the owner. Typically what happens is they contact the owner and ask them to contact you. This is the BEST case scenario. You have returned the animal to the owner and your good deed for the week is done!
Microchip Scanner Locations
Veterinarian Offices
Petco/ Petsmart with Vet Offices in them
Animal Control
If this is not done things become a bit more labor-intensive depending on how far you would like to take them. The easiest approach is to call animal control in your area and see if they can assist you in taking the animal. If you are reading this information locally to Las Vegas by ordinance you are supposed to take this animal to our county shelter. This is the Animal Foundation located at 655 Mohave. You can then drop the animal off and they will take the animal and ask where you found the animal and recall the image you took for a closer address to the roads. Once there they have to legally keep the animal for 72 hours to assist owners in reuniting. This has the highest probability of the animal getting back to their home.
If the animal that you found is one that you would like to add to your home. Talk with your local animal control office and find out what you need to do. The first thing would be proper tags and identification (microchipping). If you are located in Clark County at the writing of this blog, you would need to hold that dog for up to 30 days personally before taking ownership and posting on lost dog sites and trying to reunite. If you take the animal down to the Animal Foundation they will often give you the A number for the animal and you can request that if the owners don’t come forward that you would like to adopt.
Some key points:
Always make sure you are safe and the animal is safe
Check for a microchip or identifying tags
Take Photos of the location you found the animal.
Don’t allow your new animal to interact with your personal pets. They could have diseases or be aggressive towards animals. Proceed with caution.
If you don’t feel comfortable call animal control and ask for help and keep your distance but assist in watching the animal till help arrives. Try to warn drivers of the animal.
I hope this information can help you in the case that you have found a pet. If you have found that you have lost your animal, check with local animal control immediately. Post on social media that you are looking for your animal and post current photos. Microchipping is by far the best device for getting your pets returned safely.
If you like this please share this blog post with your friends on social media. It’s also ok to check with your local animal authorities on laws and ordinances.
