On the news last night, they had a story about a 9 year old girl who
started up a service for reuniting lost pets with their owners.  It is
a fabulous idea and I thought that everyone might just want to check out
the site and perhaps even spread the word that something like this even
exists.  You are able to leave info and pictures of your lost love one free
of charge, as well as list found pets.  Ferrets have a category there as
well.
 
http://www.purplepet.com/
 
They also offer a site for free pets... I'm never fond of the idea of
giving animals away but if it gets them a good and responsible home...
who am I to judge.
 
I did a quick search for free ferrets and two came up.  As I am not an
American, I have no idea what area the zip codes belong to.
 
The problem in general with having to search for a lost animal is that
there are so many shelters and that there is not one main place to go to in
order to search for a lost ferret.  Although you might think that it would
be not so far from logical to contact the local shelter of the area you
live in, it does not assist those who lose pets during travel from one
state to another, or one city to another.  Not all areas have names that
are consistent to give the owner an idea that the shelter deals with lost
and found animals.  The other problem I have run into is that a city may
contain 5 or more different departments that deal with lost animals with
each one dealing with a specific species: i.e. The Municipal Pound: Dogs
mainly but some cats too; SPCA: dogs, cats, small animals, and some
wildlife; Fish and Wildlife: small and large wild animals, some birds; The
Department of Roads and Highways: makes note of all road kills, etc, etc.
Recently I lost one of my ferrets and found out that the SPCA was not aware
of the Ferret Society in my city, even though the Society has contacted the
SPCA numerous times with names and info, and has been in operation in my
province for well over two years!  This is a problem that needs to be
addressed and I believe this little 9 year old girl is onto something here.
 
The only way animals will be reunited with their owners is to make the
availability of a such a service singular, thereby funneling down to the
most direct way, lost and found animals.  Simply connecting one site to
another makes the tasks long as it involves searches that must be
narrowed down, then checked, and onto the next and so on.  This to me is
unnecessarily hard, not to mention complicated.  One site - one stop.
Faster results and easier on all persons concerned as well as on the
animals involved.  The only downside?  That all individuals who lose a
pet must have access to the internet (which most public libraries carry)
and that they need to know that such a site exists.  Like anything, public
awareness is essential.
 
Lets discuss this as a group...
 
betty and her blur o'fur missing Squeegie
[Posted in FML issue 2972]