News: DAS Improves Lost & Found Pet Process
As Dallas Animal Services strives to save all placeable pets and lead the nation in innovative shelter operations and community engagement, we continually evaluate our internal processes to maximize our positive outcomes. As a part of this practice, we recently reached out to other national leaders and respected consultants to discuss methods of improving our process for reuniting lost and found pets with their owners.
As a result of their recommendations, we began utilizing PetHarbor’s digital lost and found pet reports rather than our former internal reporting process in January. PetHarbor allows owners to search for possible matches for their missing pet 24 hours a day and will even notify users when new potential matches are found. The search radius for the site is 200 miles, significantly expanding the ability for pet owners to find their missing pet.
Utilizing this automated system also allows our shelter staff to focus their time on reuniting microchipped pets and animals with identification tags with their owners more effectively and has increased our number of overall reunions (see graph below). Also, animals are returning home faster -- 73% on the first day compared to 55% last year – which decreases stress levels of pets and pet owners.
Citizens that do not have access to the internet or are having difficulty using the site can call 3-1-1 for assistance with creating a lost and found pet report or visit our Lost and Found department in person during normal business hours.
Ways to Help DAS Save Lives: Kitten Season is Coming
"Kitten Season", the time of year when Texas shelters are overrun with orphaned kittens, is almost here and we need your help to ensure we can save all of the adorable babies that enter DAS over the coming months. You can help by
becoming a kitten foster or donating items from our
Foster Kitten Amazon Wish List.
You can also check out the
orphaned kitten resources put together by the
DFW Kitten Network, a collaboration between several Dallas-area shelters and rescue groups.
Dallas90: Thinking Outside the Box to Save Lives
OUR VISION:
Lead the nation in compassionate care of animals while finding positive outcomes for all placeable pets through innovative shelter operations and community engagement.
OUR PLAN:
Dallas90 is a community outreach campaign designed to generate support of and participation in Dallas Animal Services' effort to find positive outcomes for all healthy and behaviorally sound pets, which we believe exceeds 90% of our shelter population.
Learn more about Dallas90 and how you can get involved.
News: City Replaces Pet Licensing with Mandatory Microchip
DAS no longer offers a pet licensing program. Instead, all dogs and cats in the City of Dallas are now required to be microchipped. Not sure if your pet is microchipped? All pets adopted from DAS and most local adoption groups are microchipped. Your veterinarian or any shelter can verify if your pet is microchipped.
A mircochip is small computer chip about the size of a grain of rice that is placed under your pet's skin using a needle (similar to a vaccination) where it remains throughout life. The chip contains a unique identification number that can be located with a special scanner; this number is linked to your contact information through a mircochip database. It is not a GPS tracker and you must update your information whenever it changes in order for the chip to remain effective.
Microchipped dogs have an 238% higher rate of returning home while cats have a 2000% higher rate!
DAS can mircochip your pet for only $15 during our
normal Lost & Found hours.
