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When a dog gets loose, a few things can happen. The pet can wander around the neighborhood and then return safely to the home, sometimes without the owners even knowing. Or the dog can be hit by a car and injured or killed. The dog can also be picked up by the authorities.
Animal control officers are charged with the job of reuniting the pet with its owner. This most often happens by bringing the dog to the shelter and checking to see if there is any form of identification. Tags are the first clue, but they can come off and be lost or lack the proper information.
Next, the officers check to see if there is a microchip implanted in the dog. A small sensor is waved over the area around the scruff of the neck where the microchips are placed. The data is transferred to the computer where the officer can look at the pet’s and owner’s information. To learn more about microchips, read GPS Collars or Microchips? Hopefully a successful reunion will follow.
The problem with this procedure is the time and resources it can take up. From the time the animal control department is contacted to a reunion can be hours and even up to a day. The officer must go to the area, search for the dog, catch it in a safe manner, secure it in the truck, bring it back to the shelter, run the searches, attempt to contact the owner, then arrange for the reunion or clear a kennel for the new tenant until a new home can be found.
This process can be sped up with the right equipment. For example, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the police department has donated their old police car laptops to the local animal control department. The old units have been installed in the animal control vehicles and are used to return found dogs to their owners within minutes. The entire process can now take place in the field where the dog was found instead of bringing the dog back to the shelter.
Each animal control vehicle now has the ability to check microchips and search databases from the laptop in the front of the cab. At the time of this writing, the use of this technology has already been able to reunite 66 lost pets to their owners, an increase of 26 percent over the same time the previous year.
The Fort Wayne Animal Control Department will continue to charge the $10 fee for the return of a dog for the first instance, $30 for the second, and $75 for the third occurrence. It is still very important to keep your pet safe and secure in your home or yard, and always keep him or her on a leash during outings.
By using old, recycled computers, pets and owners can continue to be reunited faster than ever, saving time, resources, and money.
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About the author:
Kayleigh has always loved animals and has spent time volunteering at the local dog shelter. The love of her life is her four year old Rottweiler, Lizzie. She enjoys writing for YeePet.com since it combines her love of animals with one of her favor...
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