What does it mean when Animal Shelters post stray pets on social media and what is a lost pet hold in Virginia.
If you follow our social media, you have probably seen our posts of photos of lost pets that were brought to our Center. These posts include the location where they were found. Why do we post these? A little background first: the Lynchburg Humane Society is a private, 501c3 nonprofit organization. We take in pets from the City of Lynchburg to fulfill the city’s state mandated shelter requirements for Lynchburg. Pets from the City of Lynchburg account for a little more than 50% of our annual intake and include pets that are required to be held for health department quarantines, are awaiting court hearings, and of course stray (lost) pets and pets surrendered by their owners who live in Lynchburg.
It is our responsibility and policy as a shelter, to try our best to find the owners of pets that come into the Center for Pets as lost/stray pets. Pets who come in as lost, receive an initial examination by our medical team including vaccinations and scanning for a microchip. Our awesome Pet Help team researches if a microchip or any other identification is found, posts lost pets on social media, investigates any leads for possible owners, and keeps records of all of these.
Why do Animal Shelters post lost pets on social media?
If a pet’s family isn’t immediately found upon their arrival at LHS, they get posted on our social media! (There are a few exclusions to this, like neonate kittens that come from community cat mothers.) Posting lost pets on social media has proven to be effective in reuniting pets with their owners. We, here in Lynchburg, are especially lucky to have such active folks on social media committed to helping communicate to reunite pets with their families. In addition to social media, our Pet Help team investigates all other avenue’s possible to help reunite pets with their families.
What are stray holds in Virginia?
Pets that are posted as lost on our social media are not available for adoption. These pets are in their state-mandated lost-pet hold periods. Lost-pet hold periods last no less than five days for any pet and last just over 10 days for pets that have identification. Identification includes, but is not limited to a collar, tag, microchip, spay/neuter scar or tattoo. These lost pet holds are designed to give the families time to find their pets before they are possibly adopted by another family. Sadly, there are many cases where a lost pet isn’t reunited with their family. This rate is very high for cats, typically only about 3% of lost cats brought to shelters are reunited with their families and about 57% of the dogs brought into LHS last year were reunited with original families. Obviously, dogs are better off than cats when it comes to being reunited with their families, but with 43% of dogs never being reclaimed by their owner, that is still a lot of dogs that don’t go back to their homes.
What if you’re interested in adopting a lost pet if not reunited with their owners?
If you’re interested in adopting a lost pet if they’re not reunited with their owners, you can reach out to our adoption team! We have a lost pet hold option that will last until they are available for adoption and refunded if they are reunited with their families. You can reach our adoption team at [email protected]!
