A new tool called “Petco Love Lost” is now available through the City of Amarillo Animal Management & Welfare website under the animal search tool/ lost & found/ specific location.
Assisted by AI, the new tool was explained by AAMW Assistant Director Brandi Bullock Wednesday at the city’s Lunch & Learn media event held Wednesday, July 9.
Bullock said it is a convenient website to speed up the process of finding the owner of a lost pet, or finding your own pet, should it become lost. The service offers a way to register your pet before they go missing as well, to speed up the process. Of course, the best solution is to microchip and have a collar and tags, but collars and tags can go missing and some pets aren’t checked for microchipping immediately.
The website also offers Lost & Found tips along with shelter services for those looking for a pet or a pet’s owners.
“We’ve partnered with Petco LoveLost, which is a free database that uses A.I. photo matching technology to reunite pets with their families,” Bullock said. “It searches local animal shelters and organizations, as well as Nextdoor and Neighbors. If you find a pet, you can take a picture of it, and post up around four photos on the site. Hopefully, you can reunite the pet with its owner instead of having to come to the shelter.”
“If somebody else in the community found it, the information that has an email and the owner’s name and number will allow you to call them and unite them with the owner,” she added. “You can also make a profile for your pets before they are lost. It doesn’t replace a microchip, but it does aid in pet reunification.”The tool has a place where you add the location where your pet was lost, and you can zoom in and pinpoint the map to see if anybody around there has posted about a lost pet.
“We are excited to introduce this technology to our community,” said AAMW Director Victoria Medley in a city news release. “Through this partnership, we, along with the community, will have the ability to reunite lost pets with their families more quickly while potentially reducing the number of animals entering our shelter.”
Petco Love Lost is one of the largest free central databases of lost and found pets in the country. With more than 200,000+ searchable pets, reuniting pets with their people can be as simple as uploading a photo.
Here’s how it works, according to the city:
“There’s nothing more rewarding than reuniting families with their beloved pets,” said AAMW Outreach Manager Katrena Volden in the release. “With Petco Love Lost, we’re confident it can lead to many more happy reunions.”
For more information and the Petco Love Lost app, including a related map, go to the AAMW website at: amw.amarillo.gov/shelter-services/lost-and-found/lost-and-found-tips
August is Clear the Shelters Month
Other news from the Amarillo animal shelter is the upcoming Clear the Shelters promotion, running Aug. 1-31 with a reduced adoption fee.
“Our goal is to adopt 325 animals during the month of August, and our main event is at 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. August 23 at the shelter. Last year, our goal was 300 animals to be adopted and we had about 275, so this year, we’re hoping to get more,” Bullock said.AAMW is also offering a “Doggy Day Out Program,” where residents can take a dog out of the shelter for a day. It helps relieve the stress of animals being held in the shelter and increases a dog’s chance of being adopted.
For more information, visit the City of Amarillo website at https://amw.amarillo.gov.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Lost a pet? This new AI-assisted tool via Amarillo’s site may help you reunite faster
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
