Would you be in favour of a sponsored National Animal Lost and Found Site

anniehoo

After a lengthy chat this evening with one of the main operators of a very popular facebook page for "lost dogs", it got me thinking. :pac:

There is NO national, one-stop-shop (website) for lost and found animals in Ireland.Why?

There are numerous random websites (some no longer active),various facebook pages and tips suggested by people to help owners find their pets or vice versa.It depends on where you are in the country, which facebook page you follow, which people you know etc etc. It's a total minefield.

There is no consistency or straightforward solution to an age old and very common problem.

I've lost or found a pet, now what do I do???

Microchipping for dogs is very slowly rolling out nationwide and will soon be compulsory. Why can't a nationwide website be funded/supported/created off the strength of this?

I would love to see something like "Ireland's Lost and Found Animals". One site that everyone goes to, knows to go to or will recommend. It can be broken down into Provinces where "moderators" :pac: can Mod/monitor their Province without it becoming too overwhelming and sponsorship/support can be provided by the many well known brands who sponsor a lot of animal related events/ideas.

What are your thoughts on a sponsored Nationwide Animal Lost and Found website?

mosi

I would definitely be in favour.I'm always on the lost/found sites checking them against each other and have used them successfully myself to reunite dogs.
A couple of things to consider:
1. Getting the site established so that it doesn't just become another random site.
2. Raising enough awareness so that people would know to look on it. I guess this could be done if various organisations got on board and its details were plastered everywhere. Despite all these sites, a lot of people still don't know what to do if they lose/find an animal.
3. A way of organising the site may be useful, where somebody could select a date/breed/colour etc. One of the pitfalls of the current sites is that it is difficult to sometimes go through them if you recognise an animal that has been on there before. I see how this could be tricky though with breeds/mixes not being correctly identified, and it may be overly technical but it may make it easier to sort through the different listings.
4. Will it be a forum/comment enabled site? The comments facility on FB site seems to be very helpful. I don't know how that would work with the previous suggestion (which I admit may be too technical).

These are just initial thoughts on seeing this proposal, I'm sure there's loads to be considered and thought through properly

sillysmiles

I think it would be a great idea, especially if all the small pound around the country bought into the idea and where able to upload animals that they found. (Though I'm sure they are already swamped)
There seems to be so many websites at the moment its a bit mental.

I think the all Ireland aspect would be especially important for dogs that are stolen rather than wandered off. As I imagine if a dog is stolen and then seen to be neutered and not useful for breeding they would be dumped, but this might be no where near they originally went missing from.

aonb

BRILLIANT idea - anything to get a lost animal back to its owners.

I recently found two straying dogs in Dublin - with so many places that one could contact, didnt have a clue where to start since I dont live in Dublin - having ONE place to go for finder and seeker would be so convenient!

Pumpkinseeds

It sounds like a great idea. 1 thing that annoys me about lost pet sites is that quite often they don't have seperate categories for pets. So if you are looking for a lost cat for example you have to go through pages and pages of other animals. I think it'd be much better to have them in seperate categories. Although I know that in most cases the sites are operated by animal loving volunteers who do it in addition to their normal jobs and family commitments.

I think the sponsorship is a good idea as having some money behind it would raise public awareness, something that is lacking for a lot of sites. I have 1 locally that I only stumbled across by chance, and I think most pet owners in my town wouldn't know it exists.

missmyler

anniehoo wrote: »

After a lengthy chat this evening with one of the main operators of a very popular facebook page for "lost dogs", it got me thinking. :pac:

There is NO national, one-stop-shop (website) for lost and found animals in Ireland.Why?

There are numerous random websites (some no longer active),various facebook pages and tips suggested by people to help owners find their pets or vice versa.It depends on where you are in the country, which facebook page you follow, which people you know etc etc. It's a total minefield.

There is no consistency or straightforward solution to an age old and very common problem.

I've lost or found a pet, now what do I do???

Microchipping for dogs is very slowly rolling out nationwide and will soon be compulsory. Why can't a nationwide website be funded/supported/created off the strength of this?

I would love to see something like "Ireland's Lost and Found Animals". One site that everyone goes to, knows to go to or will recommend. It can be broken down into Provinces where "moderators" :pac: can Mod/monitor their Province without it becoming too overwhelming and sponsorship/support can be provided by the many well known brands who sponsor a lot of animal related events/ideas.

What are your thoughts on a sponsored Nationwide Animal Lost and Found website?

What about http://www.lostandfoundpets.ie/ ?

anniehoo

missmyler wrote: »

What about http://www.lostandfoundpets.ie/ ?

Yep and that's about the closest it comes to what I mean really. I would just like to see this or something similar being the ONLY website people go to when a pet is lost or found, rather than having to post on 4 different websites, 10 facebook pages and not knowing if you're missing one etc