We receive reports of lost and found animals by phone and in person during our business hours and via phone after hours. The staff checks reported information against the animals received and reports of found animals that are not in our Shelter. We will communicate possible matches as soon as possible to the owner of the lost animal.

Lost Pets

Contact us as soon as possible after your animal is missing. Be prepared to describe the animal in detail including providing the following:

• Type of animal – cat, dog, bird, other
• Age
• Weight or general size of animal
• Color
• Coat length
• Tail length
• Ears – erect, droopy, semi-erect
• Eye color – if something is noticeable about their eye color
• Collar and/or tags
• Temperament – are they friendly, shy, aggressive

We will also need good contact information from you so that we can reach you if necessary. Too many people call us after hours and leave us lost reports but forget to give us a return phone number or even their names. Please also provide:

• Your name
• Phone number(s) where you can be reached night and day
• Address
• Location the animal was lost from

Providing us with a good picture of the animal is also very useful in helping us locate your animal.

While we will make every attempt to keep an eye out for your animal, be aware that at times the influx of animals is so great, that it is difficult to keep up with lost animal searches as well. Therefore, we strongly encourage that you stop in the Shelter every day or so to check for your animal yourself. This is especially important if your animal does not have distinguishing characteristics. For instance, tabby cats or black dogs.

Also, please contact us when your animal is found so that we can stop looking for them, remove their picture from our bulletin board and remove your information from our database. It will also keep you from getting phone calls from us regarding possible matches when your animal is already home.

Found Pets

If you found a dog with a Wood County License you can check the Wood County License Database yourself to possibly locate their owner.

If you find a pet and decide not to bring it to the shelter, please call us and let us know everything you can about the pet you have found. Information that is helpful to us in possibly locating the owner is where it was found, when, a complete description of the animal, such as breed, sex, age, etc.

We will use this information to check against reports of lost animals. Additionally, if you can bring a picture of the animal you found, that can also be very helpful when people come to shelter looking for their lost pet.

You are also welcome to bring the animal that you found to our Shelter during normal business hours. We do ask that you not drop the animal off after hours as it is not safe to leave them and it doesn't permit us to gather the necessary information about the animal from you. So please hold onto that pet until you can safely surrender them to our shelter.