August 15, 2025 • 38 mins
In this heartwarming and eye-opening episode, we sit down with Leslie Poole, director of PetFBI.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reuniting lost pets with their families across the United States. Leslie shares the origin story of PetFBI.org and the powerful role technology and community play in bringing beloved animals home.
🐾 From tips on what to do when your pet goes missing, to stories of incredible reunions, Leslie offers expert insights and practical advice that every pet owner should hear. Whether you're an animal lover, a rescue volunteer, or simply curious about the behind-the-scenes work of pet recovery, this episode will tug at your heartstrings and leave you feeling hopeful.
#LostPets #PetRecovery #MissingPets #ReunitePets #AnimalRescue
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dixie (00:02):
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Joining me today is LesliePoole with pet fbi.org.
Leslie (00:16):
Hi Dixie.
Dixie (00:16):
Hi Leslie.
Thank you for joining me today.
I am excited to speak withyou about pet fbi.org.
Leslie (00:23):
Yeah, thank you for inviting me.
I'm excited to talk about it.
Dixie (00:27):
Yeah.
A couple of weeks ago wehad, Jeanette Garlow, and she
was with microchip help.com
and Lost Dogs Illinois, and shesaid that you were her partner
database, so that's why I thoughtit would be a good conversation.
Leslie (00:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We work very closely with them.
They're one of our many partner groupsacross the United States and Canada.
Dixie (00:47):
That's awesome.
So before we get started, tell mea little bit about yourself and
how you became an animal advocate.
Leslie (00:55):
Yeah I grew up with pets we always had pets around the house.
I raised my children to have petsand I was in the nonprofit world
for many years as a fundraiserand a nonprofit administrator.
I had the nonprofit background.
But then as I started getting to thepoint where I was stepping back a little
(01:16):
bit from that position the pet FBI thingcame up and pet FBI was started in 1998.
I didn't get involved until 2017.
And it was actually my son that.
Got me involved because he hadstarted volunteering for PET FBI.
And at the time, the executivedirector who was the founder,
(01:38):
Marisa Fanelli, was getting ready toretire and was looking for somebody
to step in and take her place.
And so actually, my son putus in contact and I loved the
organization, loved the mission.
It was just felt like such a good fit.
And so I stepped in as executive director.
Dixie (01:57):
Can you tell me a little bit about what the core mission is?
Leslie (02:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
So our mission is to reunite lostpets with their families, and our
goal is to do that always free ofcharge through our technology our
expert information and the caringcommunity of volunteers that we have.
So we provide a free database whereanybody can go online@petfpi.org
(02:23):
and enter a lost or found PET report.
When that report is entered,email alerts are sent out.
It gets in our database, which issearchable, and then it's shared
with all of our partner organizationsand they share it to social media.
And we have all of these fabulousvolunteers like Jeanette and many
others who reach out to those folksjust to give them support and advice
(02:44):
and help them find their lost pets.
Dixie (02:47):
How is it that you come across the partner organizations?
Leslie (02:53):
Yeah, so there was another organization called Helping Lost
Pets, and they were based in Canada,and then there's another organization
called Lost Dogs of America, andone called Lost Cats of America.
And so we have all partnered together.
It started with us partnering withhelping Lost Pets, and they had a a
(03:13):
very similar mission to ours, whichwas to provide a free database.
And they had already collaborated withLost Dogs of America and Lost Cats of
America and all of their state groups.
So when we started working withthem, we just joined the family.
And we worked with helpinglost pets for several years.
Collaborating with them and sharingour reports back and forth, and
(03:35):
working with the partner groups.
Then in 2021 when their director,Rob Goddard was ready to retire
it just made sense to merge.
So we merged with helpinglost Pets at that point and
brought it all under Pet FBI.
Dixie (03:53):
I love to hear that you were working with these other groups with
the Helping Lost Pets and The Lost Catsof America and Lost Dogs of America.
That's great that allwork for the same goal.
Leslie (04:03):
Yeah, once we got to talking our missions were the same.
And so there was noreason to be competitive.
Let's all work together.
The goal is to get lost pets backhome, however we can do that.
And working together just makesit so much more effective.
And so much better for the people whoare just struggling to find their pets.
Dixie (04:21):
Absolutely.
So you said that the pet fbi.org
first started in 1998.
So how has it evolved Iguess up to now from 1998?
Like how were reports handledback then and how are they
handled now, if you know that?
Yeah.
Leslie (04:39):
Yeah.
In 1998, it was very early days forthe internet, so this was really
one of the first online databases.
And Marisa had worked with alocal internet service provider
here in Columbus, Ohio,which is where we are based.
And , it was just serving thecentral Ohio area at that time.
So it was really a novel concept.
(05:01):
In 1998, that was just the beginningsof people going online and posting.
So it was more of a bulletinboard kind of thing.
At that point.
And then it's just as technologyhas evolved, it's grown and evolved.
So it started growing to serve allof Ohio and then went from there
to be, serving all of the UnitedStates and Canada at this point.
(05:24):
But yeah, as technology hasgrown, we've grown as well.
Dixie (05:29):
Now with your platform, are there paid services or is everything
on your platform free of charge?
Leslie (05:36):
Everything we do is free of charge.
So we are a 5 0 1 C3.
We're a nonprofit organization.
We are completely supported by donations.
So if somebody marks their reportas reunited, their pet is back home.
We do ask if they wanna pay itforward and make a donation.
But there is no fee to do anything onour site so anybody can report a pet
(05:57):
for completely free of charge and theyget the same service no matter what.
Dixie (06:02):
The donations that you receive, what do you use that for?
Leslie (06:06):
Yeah, it mostly goes toward our technology costs.
Hosting the platform, sendingemails sending text messages.
There's just a lot of things that go intosupporting the technology that we use.
That's basically what it goes for.
We also have a Good Sam fund where we.
We'll help shelters, we'll help owners outif they can't pay a shelter, reclaim fee.
(06:29):
We also donate microchip scanners topolice departments and things like that.
But the bulk of it goes tosupporting our technology,
Dixie (06:37):
and I could imagine that can get costly as well,
just maintaining the database.
Leslie (06:42):
Yeah.
Yes, absolutely.
And sending emails.
We send an incredible amount ofemails on both potential match
alerts and anybody can go on oursite and sign up to receive emails
of lost and found pets in their area.
So yeah, all of those things thatyou don't think about add up.
That's why we need those donationsand we're very fortunate that people
are generous and donate to us.
Dixie (07:04):
So since there is a lot of tech involved, I would imagine
that, do you have an IT personthat you work with as well?
Leslie (07:12):
We do.
It's actually my son.
Oh, okay.
Who built the database?
Dixie (07:16):
Oh, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
Leslie (07:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We don't have paid staff.
We are a volunteer.
But yeah, he does all ofthe technology pieces of it.
Occasionally we do outsource things aswe have to do and . We have to pay the
Amazon web services for everything.
So yeah, we have a lotof those kinds of costs.
Dixie (07:37):
So walk us through the process.
If someone loses a pet, whatare the immediate steps that
they should take on pet fbi.org?
Leslie (07:46):
Yeah, so go to pet fbi.org
and the first thing they're gonnawanna do is go to the button that says
Create a report, and they're gonnaenter their report in the system.
It's a easy form, it'll walk them through.
They'll need to create an account withus, and that's just so we can make sure
they're a real person and we have a wayto contact them and they'll upload a
photo of their pet and submit the report.
(08:08):
Once they submit the reportthey will get a confirmation
with, from us, with some tips.
That report is then emailed out.
So let's say they entered a lost PETreport, lost dog report in Columbus.
They're gonna immediately get all thefound dog reports in the Columbus area
that match up with the date and location.
(08:30):
So we'll first get those.
Those matching potential match reportsand their lost report is gonna be
sent to all the found report peoplewho are registered in our database.
So that happens.
The report is then in our databaseto be searched, and then it's also
sent to our partner group immediatelyto be posted on their Facebook page.
(08:50):
And for the most part, most ofour partner groups, that report is
auto posted on their Facebook page.
So it's immediatelyshowing up on social media.
Dixie (08:59):
So there's a feature where it'll automatically get uploaded to
their pages, and so they don't haveto go in and physically do that?
Leslie (09:07):
That's correct, yes.
It does get automatically uploaded,however, because these are
volunteers all of those are curated.
So they're checking all of thoseposts just to make sure that they're
correct that they uploaded properly.
So somebody's looking at allof those reports, but they
do get uploaded immediately.
Dixie (09:25):
You said that if somebody posts a lost pet, and then if somebody posts
a found pet, then at that time thesystem will try to do the match itself.
Can you explain that a little bit more?
Leslie (09:40):
Yeah, so the system will, at this point, it's just looking
at species and location and date.
So it's not gonna look at the photosright now, but if you have a found
dog that's, you have a lost dog andthere's a found dog posted within 25
miles and it matches the date criteria,you're gonna get that email alert.
(10:01):
So a lot of them are not gonna bea match, but we, at this point, we
feel like we'd rather send too manythan miss something accidentally.
What we found is that people whohave found a pet, sometimes they
misidentify the breed or the gender.
So we don't wanna filter by those criteriawhen we're emailing out potential matches.
Dixie (10:23):
Do you have any plans in the future of possibly using AI technology
to help more with matching the pets?
Leslie (10:31):
Yes, thanks for bringing that up because we are playing around with it.
We do use some AI right now, so if youwould go into our database and create
a report and upload a photo, our systemwill automatically fill in the species.
The breed and the color just by lookingat the photo, which saves the person who's
(10:52):
entering the report a little bit of time.
And it's also really nice forsomebody with a found pet who may
not know what dog breed that is.
So we do use AI in that way.
But we're still playing around with it.
We are looking at how we canmaybe make the matching process a
little better by using technology.
Dixie (11:12):
With the volunteers that you have that are contributing to reuniting pets,
do they receive any kind of specialalerts or anything that would help them?
Leslie (11:21):
Every time a report is posted in their area, let's say
they're for lost dogs, Illinois.
Anytime they get a dog report in Illinois,they automatically get an email alert.
So they know that report has comein, so they can quickly go in, post
it to Facebook, look at the report,and then they can reach out to
the owner or finder at that time.
Dixie (11:42):
Now beyond the database, what other resources or advice does pet fbi.org
offer to pet owners and finders?
Do you have any kind of likeflyers, templates action plans?
Leslie (11:55):
We do.
So when they get their first confirmationemail, they'll have links back to our
database or back to our website linkingthem to the Lost Cat or the Lost Dog
Action Plan, or the found pet action plan.
We have lots of blog posts onour website with, tips and advice
that they can scroll through.
We also have a flyer template andso we encourage them to make their
(12:18):
flyer immediately, which theycan do right from their report.
So as soon as the report is entered,they can go right in and make a flyer
and it fills in all of the information.
All they have to do is download itand print it and so it's ready to go.
We really encourage flyers and signs.
So we wanna tell people to get outthere, pound the pavement and distribute
(12:38):
those flyers when your pet is lost.
Dixie (12:41):
Okay, so you mentioned signs.
So what kind of signs would you recommend?
Leslie (12:46):
So they can take the flyer from our site.
The first signs we alwaysrecommend brightly colored.
So getting brightly colored posterboard, like neon colored poster board.
Tape the flyer on itor just use a Sharpie.
Tape the picture with some kindof waterproof packing tape.
Use a big sharpie.
Put the lost dog or lost cat andyour phone number as big as possible.
(13:09):
And then.
Put those at, strategic places aroundin the area where the pet was lost, but
brightly colored we think works best.
Dixie (13:18):
Yeah, so like a neon poster board, something like that?
Leslie (13:21):
Yes.
Yeah.
Neon poster.
It doesn't have to be fancy neonposter board, a black Sharpie
with your phone number and tapea picture of your pet on it.
Yeah, it doesn't have to be, itdoesn't have to be super fancy.
Dixie (13:35):
Yeah, that's a great tip.
What are some of the most commonchallenges or misconceptions people
face when they're trying to finda lost pet or reunite A found pet?
Leslie (13:46):
I think that there are a couple things.
So one of the things we see all the timeand Jeanette probably talked about this
as well, is people assuming that they'regonna be able to call their dog and their
dog's gonna come right back to them.
I think people are really surprised howquickly a pet can go into survival mode
and they may not come running back.
So there's a little bit of aneducation that we try to do.
(14:08):
On how to treat that lostpet and what to expect.
We also want to getpeople out and searching.
We don't want them to.
Enter a report in our databaseand then sit back and wait.
It's really important to get the word outto post in multiple places and get out and
search, especially if you have a lost cat.
(14:30):
Searching is one of the best ways'cause they could be trapped somewhere.
So you wanna get out, search your yard,ask permission to search your neighbor's
yard, search in garages and sheds.
Just really pound the pavementagain to try to find that pet.
Also, it's really important that youhave good contact information and
(14:50):
people can get ahold of you quickly.
So that's a little bit of a struggle forus and our volunteers, especially when we
don't have great contact information orthe owner or the finder is not answering
their phone or answering their email.
So we just want people to be awarethat if you're, if you've found
a pet or lost a pet, please checkyour email and your voicemail often.
Dixie (15:13):
I do see that a lot too.
And I have a few lost petsgroups that I admin, and that's
one thing I see all the time.
It's people will post theirpets, but they never include
any kind of contact information.
Leslie (15:26):
Yeah.
And that's frustrating.
Dixie (15:30):
How crucial is micro chipping and what advice do you
have for any pet owners regardingmicrochip registration and update?
Leslie (15:39):
Yeah, so I think microchipping is essential.
Every pet should have a microchip.
We need, you need to make sure thatmicrochip information is updated, and
we recommend that every year when yougo to visit your vet, you have them
scanned, make sure the microchip is stillfunctioning and has it migrated, and
that you also check your registrationwith the company that has the microchip
(16:02):
registration to make sure it's up to date.
People don't realize sometimes theychange their cell phone number or they
move or they change their email addressand then that microchip, it doesn't
do any good if it doesn't have goodcontact information attached to it.
So we recommend at leastonce a year you check that.
Dixie (16:20):
So doing this, you certainly are knowledgeable
about the behaviors of lost pets.
Did you take any kind of classesor is this something that you
learned as you went along the way?
Leslie (16:33):
It's something I've learned as I've gone along the way, but we are very
fortunate in our organization that wehave several volunteers who have a lot
of experience working with lost petsand have taken classes and so I've been
fortunate to absorb their knowledge.
Dixie (16:50):
Yeah, that's great.
That's great.
So now you did say that your partnerorganizations will post on social media.
Do you see like local communitygroups also getting involved in, say,
sharing your flyers and the postsfrom their pages or from your pages?
Leslie (17:09):
Yeah, and that is our goal, so that they share from our pages.
And so we do, it just depends on the areaand how active the community groups are.
But yes, we do have a lot ofFacebook groups and other groups
just like city or town Facebookgroups that will share the posts.
And that's exactly what we want.
We really wanna get the word out.
(17:30):
We make it easy on the report toshare to Nextdoor and we encourage
everybody, if you've lost a pet,to share it to Nextdoor as well.
There's an easy click to share toNextdoor button on every report.
And so that's a great way to getthe word out to your neighbors.
Dixie (17:45):
Oh, that's good to know too.
'cause I didn't know there was an easyway to share things to Nextdoor, so
I'll definitely share that informationtoo in my social media groups.
Leslie (17:54):
Yeah.
Nextdoor is great andthose are your neighbors.
Those are the people mostlikely to have seen your pet.
So yeah, we always recommendthat you share to Nextdoor.
Dixie (18:04):
Yeah.
And you can always ask your neighborstoo, to check their cameras.
If you don't have cameras and they havecameras, they might be able to check
'em and help you out with that too.
Leslie (18:12):
Yes.
The ring cameras are great.
Yes, exactly.
Dixie (18:16):
What are some of the most important things pet owners can do
before their pet goes missing to increasethe chances of a successful reunion?
Leslie (18:26):
Yeah, I always have, we say have good id, so they should have
a collar, a well-fitting collar andan ID tag with your phone number.
That being microchipped, we know thatpets a lot of times go missing without
their collar, so your backup is yourmicrochip that needs to be registered
with your current information.
Just be diligent.
(18:46):
Make sure that your fences are ingood repair, that you're being careful
when you're opening and closing doors.
We've had a lot of bad weather in my area.
Not sure what it's doing in your area.
But we've had a lot of high winds and sobeing very careful, make sure that a fence
hasn't blown open, a gate isn't open.
When you're walking your pets,when you're walking your dog on
(19:06):
a leash, make sure that leash isfitting, that leash is tight, you
have a secure harness or collar.
Be aware, we are still hearingfireworks here too, so be aware
that there are loud noises and beprepared to react to that as well.
But the main thing is justhaving good identification.
Dixie (19:23):
Another thing too I would like to ask is how user friendly is pet fbi.org?
Because I know there's a lot ofolder individuals that aren't too
keen on using the internet, but theymay have a pet go missing there.
May might not be on socialmedia, so is it something that
would be easy for them to use?
Is it easy to navigate?
Leslie (19:45):
Yeah, I think it's easy to navigate the form.
The report form itself is just, it'sjust like you're filling out a form.
You're just going from field to fieldand entering the required information.
So not everybody feels comfortablewith that, but as far as a form on a
computer, I think it's pretty easy.
And they submit it.
The one thing we do encouragepeople to give a phone number,
(20:06):
but we also understand.
Especially maybe an older adultor somebody living alone may not
want to publish their phone number.
There is an option where they can enterthe phone number, but keep it private.
And we, that would be so thevolunteers can contact them.
So if they don't feel comfortablegiving that information out,
(20:27):
they can still enter it.
That gives us a way to contact them if weneed to, but it doesn't make it public.
Dixie (20:35):
And as far as the photos, do you just use one photo or can
people upload multiple photos?
Leslie (20:41):
It's just one photo at this point.
So yeah, we just recommend that youuse a really good photo that shows any
unusual markings that's clear that peoplewould be able to identify your pet with.
Dixie (20:54):
Now, have you come across situations when a pet may be missing
for a while and you might have a.
Say a found report come in andpeople are reluctant to think
it's their pet be just because oftheir pet being out for a while.
They, of course, theymight look different,
Leslie (21:10):
yeah, that has happened.
And yeah, it is amazing.
Even a pet that's only been missingfor a few days can look very different.
If they've run through the mud orwhatever may have happened in that time.
So we just encourage everybody,leave no stone unturned.
If you think there's a slightpossibility, it could be your pet.
Check it out.
Don't dismiss it, even ifthe pet's a long way away.
(21:33):
Somebody could have pickedhim up and transported him.
So yeah, we say check everything.
You just never know.
Dixie (21:40):
Yeah, it's definitely good advice.
I know that happened to meactually one time, and I
actually remember the cat's name.
His name was Meatball.
And I saw I, I saw this cat posted.
For some reason, I guess it was thename Meatball just stuck with me.
But I saw about maybe three monthslater, somebody posted a cat that
(22:01):
looked exactly like meatball, but itwas like about 20 miles away and I'm
like, I am pretty sure that is meatball.
So I sent that to over to the ownerand it ended up to beam his cat.
Leslie (22:15):
Oh wow.
Dixie (22:16):
Yeah.
Oh, that's
Leslie (22:17):
fantastic.
Yeah.
Dixie (22:18):
And don't know how it was an indoor cat.
So best we can guess is that eithersomebody picked him up or he just crawled
into somebody's truck and hitched a ride.
Leslie (22:28):
Yep.
Yeah, we've seen that happen.
The other thing we've seen happenis sometimes a finder will have
the dog groomed and they'lllook completely different.
You just we had that happen oncewhere they were all groomed and
pretty and, nobody recognized him.
So you just never know.
And other thing, we've seen a lotof our volunteers talk about this as
(22:50):
well, is sometimes when you take thepicture you're getting a mirror image.
So maybe they have a patch overone eye, but when you see the
picture, it's on the other eye.
So don't let that throw youoff, because sometimes the
picture can reverse the image.
Yeah, that's true.
So just because it's on theother side, don't discount it.
It could still be the same pet.
Dixie (23:09):
Yeah.
I never thought about that,but that's actually 100% true.
Leslie (23:14):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we've seen that happen too.
Keep that in mind.
Somebody will dismiss it and say,no, the patch is over the wrong eye.
And we're like, maybe not.
Dixie (23:21):
Ah, yeah, that's great advice right there.
So do you have a favorite orparticularly memorable happy tale
story of a pet being reunited?
Leslie (23:32):
Oh gosh, there's so many.
Yeah.
We had one where the cathad got escaped in a hotel.
And the people just kept coming back andputting up flyers and putting up flyers.
And some guy had taken the cat homewho had stayed at the hotel, found
the cat, took the cat home with him.
He was actually in another state.
The owners kept comingback and putting up flyers.
(23:53):
Finally, they got in touch withhim and he drove the cat all
the way back from another state.
To bring the cat home meet up withthe owners at the hotel, but he'd
bought, he'd taken the cat home andbought it, toys and everything, and
he brought all the cat and all his newaccessories back home to the owner.
Oh, wow.
But the persistence of, I know.
(24:14):
It was very sweet.
The persistence of the owner though,just kept going back to the hotel, kept
putting up flyers trying to get theword out, and eventually it worked.
Dixie (24:21):
Yeah, that's I see that a lot here actually.
Where people will lose their petsin the hotels or they'll be driving
through, they lose their pets andthey'll stay around for a few days
and, but they don't encourage theflyers, which I think is a big thing.
I really think, like you said,they need to go put the flyers
and put 'em all over that hotel.
(24:42):
Or at least keep calling thehotel and saying, Hey, can
you put your flyers back up?
Or the businesses thatare in the area too.
Leslie (24:50):
Yeah, exactly.
Persistence pays off.
It really does because likeyou've noticed, you've said,
not everybody's on social media.
Not everybody's looking at next door.
Not everybody's gonna see a flyer,so you have to do all the things,
you have to try to get the word outin every channel you possibly can
in hopes that somebody will see it.
Dixie (25:12):
So how many pets approximately has pet fbi.org
helped reunite over the years?
Leslie (25:19):
Oh gosh.
I wish I had a really good answer forthat because we've switched databases.
I don't have a total number.
We do manage about 90,000 reports a year.
That includes some shelter intakes.
We work with some shelters tohelp them with their intakes.
I can tell you that.
Around people.
We rely on people updating theirreports to know how many we've reunited.
(25:43):
But we do reunite about 47% oflost dogs and probably about 34,
30 5% of lost cats are reunited.
Again, we know those numbers are probablyhigher because not everybody updates
their reports, but that's just going on.
The reunited reports in our system.
Dixie (26:02):
Wow, that's quite a number.
Then if you do that many a year.
Leslie (26:07):
Yeah, it keeps us pretty busy and like I said,
we do work with some shelters.
And so we do encourage shelters ifthey're interested to reach out to us
and, we can pull their intakes from theirshelter software into our system as well.
Dixie (26:21):
And is that something that's easy for them to do?
Leslie (26:26):
It depends.
It the most of the work's onour end, but it depends on what
shelter software they're using.
Some of the shelter softwares are setup to integrate more easily, so it
just depends on their shelter software.
Dixie (26:38):
So what kind of impact do you aim to have on the broader
issue of lost and homeless pets?
Leslie (26:47):
So our vision for the world, if we were just, streaming is that every
pet gets back home so that there's a waywe know pets are always gonna get lost.
We would love it if we could preventthat, but if we could make sure that
every pet can find their way back home.
So that is encouraging microchipping,making sure people understand and use
(27:11):
ID tags, spaying and neutering pets.
Those are the things that'llhelp prevent pets from going
missing or getting back home.
So that's our goal is to make surethose pets have a way to get home.
Dixie (27:24):
And do you have pets of your own?
Leslie (27:28):
I do right now, we have, we just started fostering a cat last month.
It's already a foster fail, so
Dixie (27:36):
that's a good thing.
Leslie (27:37):
Yes, she's adorable.
So yes, we've had catsand dogs over the years.
Our oldest cat passed awaylast year at 19, and we took
a little break but now we're.
Now we're back in it with a new cat.
Dixie (27:54):
Congratulations on the foster fail.
Thank you.
For pet fbi.org,
do you do only dogs and cats, orhave you had any other species?
Leslie (28:07):
We do anything.
We have birds and reptiles, turtles,we've had horses, pigs, goats.
So yeah, anybody can entera report for any species.
The majority, probably 60%of our reports are dogs.
Close to 40% are cats.
(28:28):
And then there's 1% of other species,which are our birds and ferrets.
Other things.
Dixie (28:34):
And so what is the most unusual type you've seen?
Leslie (28:39):
We had, we did have a tortoise, a large tortoise that actually made
it probably a good two or threemiles before its family found it.
We had some goats not too long ago.
And I think we had a peacock.
Oh, okay.
A while back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, but we do get we do get birds.
(29:02):
We probably after dogs andcats, probably birds are the
most, so we do get birds that.
Wander away.
And we did just put a blog post upon our site about what to do if you
lose a bird, because that's somethingthat not everybody knows what to do.
So we put some newinformation up about that.
Dixie (29:19):
Can you go over that?
Leslie (29:23):
Yeah.
In fact.
The blog post.
So we actually, there is a group called9 1 1 Parent Alert and we collaborated
with 'em to use some of their informationfor this post because they do a lot.
They have a lot of information on how toget your bird back, but basically you want
(29:45):
to, it's a lot of the same things you dofor any pet is conduct a physical search.
'Cause they're usually within a halfa mile to two miles within the home.
So you wanna, look up as opposed to maybewith a dog, you wanna be looking up in
the trees and as you're looking for yourbird and their advice is the best time
(30:05):
to search is just before or after sunriseand later in the day around sunset,
because that's when birds are most vocal.
And again, you wanted to use signsand flyers to spread the word.
And if you have, you can takeyour birds enclosure outside.
So if you have a safe, secure place,you can put their food and water out in
(30:25):
the enclosure and leave the door open.
And so some of your, some birdsmay fly right back in their cage.
If you have a recording of your bird'svocalizations you, they say to play that
and that might attract them to come home.
But other than that, it's the sameprocess as for other pets, which is
(30:46):
to get the word out, post a reportpost on next door, get flyers out
to your friends and neighbors, mailcarriers, UPS drivers, anybody who may
be in and out of your neighborhood.
I thought the cage thing was interesting,and also the sunrise, sunset, I think
is a good advice for looking for a bird.
Dixie (31:05):
Yeah I didn't know that.
I see quite a few lost birds.
I've never heard anybody mentionthat tip, so that is a great tip.
Leslie (31:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So if you go to our website,it's one of the blog posts
that's still on the front page.
You can click on it.
Dixie (31:21):
What are your hopes or future plans for your organization?
Are there any new initiativesor features in the works?
Leslie (31:30):
Yeah, we've been, testing some SMS messaging.
, We have some very large partnergroups like Lost Dogs, Illinois,
or Lost Dogs, Wisconsin.
And they have big volunteerteams and so they message, they
text every owner or finder.
We have some states that havea smaller group and may not
(31:50):
have the capacity to do that.
So we've implemented,texting, automated texting.
So once the report comes in, ifwe have their phone number, we
will send them a series of textmessages with advice, with a link to
here's the link to make your flyer.
Here are the first fivethings that you wanna do.
So it's just a series of text messagesto keep them engaged and encourage them
(32:12):
what steps to take next to find their pet.
So we started that a few months ago.
It's been met with pretty good success.
People seem to like it, sowe're excited about that.
Dixie (32:24):
And for our listeners who want to help, how can they
best support petffbi.org's
mission
Leslie (32:33):
Tell your friends, promote it on social media.
If you know somebody who's losta pet, please encourage them to
come to our website@petfpi.org
and enter a report.
They can go to our homepage and ifthey scroll down, there's a place
where they can sign up for emailalerts so anybody can sign up to
get alerts of lost and found pets intheir area, and they can help match.
(32:54):
Lost and found pets themselves.
So that's a great way to help.
If they wanna get more involved, there'sa volunteer application on our site
if they'd like to be part of our team.
And of course, we're also always needingdonations and so they can go to our
website and make a donation as well.
Dixie (33:12):
And before we end this call, what one piece of advice would you
give to someone who has just lost theirpet and feels completely hopeless?
Leslie (33:23):
Don't give up hope Don't panic.
There are people who are ableto help you get the word out.
Stay calm.
Most pets are reunited.
It's just so overwhelming andterrifying when you lose your pet.
But take the advice on our site.
Take the advice of ourvolunteers, do the steps.
(33:45):
There's a very good chanceyou'll find your pet.
Dixie (33:48):
And I think the stats that you gave us with the number of pets that you
get in a year, the reports yearly thatyou get, and the number that's reunited,
that kind of almost speaks for itself too.
It definitely don't lose hope.
Leslie (34:02):
Absolutely.
And don't give up.
Most pets are found within thefirst few days, but it can go on for
weeks, months, even years sometimes.
So yeah, never give up.
We see some miraculous reunions.
Dixie (34:18):
Thank you so much for joining me.
I love your passion for lost Pets,and I'm glad we were able to have
this conversation, and hopefullythis'll help get more pets home.
Leslie (34:27):
Yes, I hope so.
Thank you so much.
It was wonderful to talk to you.
Dixie (34:31):
That's all the time that we have for today's episode.
Thank you for listening andwe hope you join us next week.
If you know somebody that loves animalsas much as I do, please send 'em our way.
We would love to talk to 'em.
If you are enjoying our show, pleaseconsider leaving us a donation.
A hundred percent goes to our animals.
Suno (34:52):
Paws in
the night Claws in thefight Whiskers twitch and
tails
take flight
They’re calling in Stories to spinFrom the wild to the heart within
(35:19):
Broken wings and hopeful springsWe’re the voices for these things
animal posse hear the call.
We stand together.
Big and small Rescue tales We’vegot it all Animal posse Saving
(35:47):
them
all
The vet’s got tips The rescuer’sgrit The foster homes where love
won’t quit From a pup in the rain toa bird in pain , Every soul’s worth
(36:15):
the
strain
Animal posse
Hear the call
We stand together Big
(36:40):
and small Rescue tales We’ve gotit all Animal posse Saving them all
Every collar tells a tale, everyhowl a whispered wail, we rise up.
We never
(37:01):
fail.
This
is
the
bond
The holy grail
(37:21):
Animal posse Hear the call We standtogether Big and small Rescue tales We’ve
got it all Animal posse Saving them all
(37:46):
Every collar tells a tale Every howla whispered wail We rise up We never
fail This is the bond The holy grail.
Song by Suno.ai
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Joining me today is LesliePoole with pet fbi.org.
Leslie (00:16):
Hi Dixie.
Dixie (00:16):
Hi Leslie.
Thank you for joining me today.
I am excited to speak withyou about pet fbi.org.
Leslie (00:23):
Yeah, thank you for inviting me.
I'm excited to talk about it.
Dixie (00:27):
Yeah.
A couple of weeks ago wehad, Jeanette Garlow, and she
was with microchip help.com
and Lost Dogs Illinois, and shesaid that you were her partner
database, so that's why I thoughtit would be a good conversation.
Leslie (00:39):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We work very closely with them.
They're one of our many partner groupsacross the United States and Canada.
Dixie (00:47):
That's awesome.
So before we get started, tell mea little bit about yourself and
how you became an animal advocate.
Leslie (00:55):
Yeah I grew up with pets we always had pets around the house.
I raised my children to have petsand I was in the nonprofit world
for many years as a fundraiserand a nonprofit administrator.
I had the nonprofit background.
But then as I started getting to thepoint where I was stepping back a little
(01:16):
bit from that position the pet FBI thingcame up and pet FBI was started in 1998.
I didn't get involved until 2017.
And it was actually my son that.
Got me involved because he hadstarted volunteering for PET FBI.
And at the time, the executivedirector who was the founder,
(01:38):
Marisa Fanelli, was getting ready toretire and was looking for somebody
to step in and take her place.
And so actually, my son putus in contact and I loved the
organization, loved the mission.
It was just felt like such a good fit.
And so I stepped in as executive director.
Dixie (01:57):
Can you tell me a little bit about what the core mission is?
Leslie (02:02):
Yeah, absolutely.
So our mission is to reunite lostpets with their families, and our
goal is to do that always free ofcharge through our technology our
expert information and the caringcommunity of volunteers that we have.
So we provide a free database whereanybody can go online@petfpi.org
(02:23):
and enter a lost or found PET report.
When that report is entered,email alerts are sent out.
It gets in our database, which issearchable, and then it's shared
with all of our partner organizationsand they share it to social media.
And we have all of these fabulousvolunteers like Jeanette and many
others who reach out to those folksjust to give them support and advice
(02:44):
and help them find their lost pets.
Dixie (02:47):
How is it that you come across the partner organizations?
Leslie (02:53):
Yeah, so there was another organization called Helping Lost
Pets, and they were based in Canada,and then there's another organization
called Lost Dogs of America, andone called Lost Cats of America.
And so we have all partnered together.
It started with us partnering withhelping Lost Pets, and they had a a
(03:13):
very similar mission to ours, whichwas to provide a free database.
And they had already collaborated withLost Dogs of America and Lost Cats of
America and all of their state groups.
So when we started working withthem, we just joined the family.
And we worked with helpinglost pets for several years.
Collaborating with them and sharingour reports back and forth, and
(03:35):
working with the partner groups.
Then in 2021 when their director,Rob Goddard was ready to retire
it just made sense to merge.
So we merged with helpinglost Pets at that point and
brought it all under Pet FBI.
Dixie (03:53):
I love to hear that you were working with these other groups with
the Helping Lost Pets and The Lost Catsof America and Lost Dogs of America.
That's great that allwork for the same goal.
Leslie (04:03):
Yeah, once we got to talking our missions were the same.
And so there was noreason to be competitive.
Let's all work together.
The goal is to get lost pets backhome, however we can do that.
And working together just makesit so much more effective.
And so much better for the people whoare just struggling to find their pets.
Dixie (04:21):
Absolutely.
So you said that the pet fbi.org
first started in 1998.
So how has it evolved Iguess up to now from 1998?
Like how were reports handledback then and how are they
handled now, if you know that?
Yeah.
Leslie (04:39):
Yeah.
In 1998, it was very early days forthe internet, so this was really
one of the first online databases.
And Marisa had worked with alocal internet service provider
here in Columbus, Ohio,which is where we are based.
And , it was just serving thecentral Ohio area at that time.
So it was really a novel concept.
(05:01):
In 1998, that was just the beginningsof people going online and posting.
So it was more of a bulletinboard kind of thing.
At that point.
And then it's just as technologyhas evolved, it's grown and evolved.
So it started growing to serve allof Ohio and then went from there
to be, serving all of the UnitedStates and Canada at this point.
(05:24):
But yeah, as technology hasgrown, we've grown as well.
Dixie (05:29):
Now with your platform, are there paid services or is everything
on your platform free of charge?
Leslie (05:36):
Everything we do is free of charge.
So we are a 5 0 1 C3.
We're a nonprofit organization.
We are completely supported by donations.
So if somebody marks their reportas reunited, their pet is back home.
We do ask if they wanna pay itforward and make a donation.
But there is no fee to do anything onour site so anybody can report a pet
(05:57):
for completely free of charge and theyget the same service no matter what.
Dixie (06:02):
The donations that you receive, what do you use that for?
Leslie (06:06):
Yeah, it mostly goes toward our technology costs.
Hosting the platform, sendingemails sending text messages.
There's just a lot of things that go intosupporting the technology that we use.
That's basically what it goes for.
We also have a Good Sam fund where we.
We'll help shelters, we'll help owners outif they can't pay a shelter, reclaim fee.
(06:29):
We also donate microchip scanners topolice departments and things like that.
But the bulk of it goes tosupporting our technology,
Dixie (06:37):
and I could imagine that can get costly as well,
just maintaining the database.
Leslie (06:42):
Yeah.
Yes, absolutely.
And sending emails.
We send an incredible amount ofemails on both potential match
alerts and anybody can go on oursite and sign up to receive emails
of lost and found pets in their area.
So yeah, all of those things thatyou don't think about add up.
That's why we need those donationsand we're very fortunate that people
are generous and donate to us.
Dixie (07:04):
So since there is a lot of tech involved, I would imagine
that, do you have an IT personthat you work with as well?
Leslie (07:12):
We do.
It's actually my son.
Oh, okay.
Who built the database?
Dixie (07:16):
Oh, that's awesome.
That's awesome.
Leslie (07:18):
Yeah.
Yeah.
We don't have paid staff.
We are a volunteer.
But yeah, he does all ofthe technology pieces of it.
Occasionally we do outsource things aswe have to do and . We have to pay the
Amazon web services for everything.
So yeah, we have a lotof those kinds of costs.
Dixie (07:37):
So walk us through the process.
If someone loses a pet, whatare the immediate steps that
they should take on pet fbi.org?
Leslie (07:46):
Yeah, so go to pet fbi.org
and the first thing they're gonnawanna do is go to the button that says
Create a report, and they're gonnaenter their report in the system.
It's a easy form, it'll walk them through.
They'll need to create an account withus, and that's just so we can make sure
they're a real person and we have a wayto contact them and they'll upload a
photo of their pet and submit the report.
(08:08):
Once they submit the reportthey will get a confirmation
with, from us, with some tips.
That report is then emailed out.
So let's say they entered a lost PETreport, lost dog report in Columbus.
They're gonna immediately get all thefound dog reports in the Columbus area
that match up with the date and location.
(08:30):
So we'll first get those.
Those matching potential match reportsand their lost report is gonna be
sent to all the found report peoplewho are registered in our database.
So that happens.
The report is then in our databaseto be searched, and then it's also
sent to our partner group immediatelyto be posted on their Facebook page.
(08:50):
And for the most part, most ofour partner groups, that report is
auto posted on their Facebook page.
So it's immediatelyshowing up on social media.
Dixie (08:59):
So there's a feature where it'll automatically get uploaded to
their pages, and so they don't haveto go in and physically do that?
Leslie (09:07):
That's correct, yes.
It does get automatically uploaded,however, because these are
volunteers all of those are curated.
So they're checking all of thoseposts just to make sure that they're
correct that they uploaded properly.
So somebody's looking at allof those reports, but they
do get uploaded immediately.
Dixie (09:25):
You said that if somebody posts a lost pet, and then if somebody posts
a found pet, then at that time thesystem will try to do the match itself.
Can you explain that a little bit more?
Leslie (09:40):
Yeah, so the system will, at this point, it's just looking
at species and location and date.
So it's not gonna look at the photosright now, but if you have a found
dog that's, you have a lost dog andthere's a found dog posted within 25
miles and it matches the date criteria,you're gonna get that email alert.
(10:01):
So a lot of them are not gonna bea match, but we, at this point, we
feel like we'd rather send too manythan miss something accidentally.
What we found is that people whohave found a pet, sometimes they
misidentify the breed or the gender.
So we don't wanna filter by those criteriawhen we're emailing out potential matches.
Dixie (10:23):
Do you have any plans in the future of possibly using AI technology
to help more with matching the pets?
Leslie (10:31):
Yes, thanks for bringing that up because we are playing around with it.
We do use some AI right now, so if youwould go into our database and create
a report and upload a photo, our systemwill automatically fill in the species.
The breed and the color just by lookingat the photo, which saves the person who's
(10:52):
entering the report a little bit of time.
And it's also really nice forsomebody with a found pet who may
not know what dog breed that is.
So we do use AI in that way.
But we're still playing around with it.
We are looking at how we canmaybe make the matching process a
little better by using technology.
Dixie (11:12):
With the volunteers that you have that are contributing to reuniting pets,
do they receive any kind of specialalerts or anything that would help them?
Leslie (11:21):
Every time a report is posted in their area, let's say
they're for lost dogs, Illinois.
Anytime they get a dog report in Illinois,they automatically get an email alert.
So they know that report has comein, so they can quickly go in, post
it to Facebook, look at the report,and then they can reach out to
the owner or finder at that time.
Dixie (11:42):
Now beyond the database, what other resources or advice does pet fbi.org
offer to pet owners and finders?
Do you have any kind of likeflyers, templates action plans?
Leslie (11:55):
We do.
So when they get their first confirmationemail, they'll have links back to our
database or back to our website linkingthem to the Lost Cat or the Lost Dog
Action Plan, or the found pet action plan.
We have lots of blog posts onour website with, tips and advice
that they can scroll through.
We also have a flyer template andso we encourage them to make their
(12:18):
flyer immediately, which theycan do right from their report.
So as soon as the report is entered,they can go right in and make a flyer
and it fills in all of the information.
All they have to do is download itand print it and so it's ready to go.
We really encourage flyers and signs.
So we wanna tell people to get outthere, pound the pavement and distribute
(12:38):
those flyers when your pet is lost.
Dixie (12:41):
Okay, so you mentioned signs.
So what kind of signs would you recommend?
Leslie (12:46):
So they can take the flyer from our site.
The first signs we alwaysrecommend brightly colored.
So getting brightly colored posterboard, like neon colored poster board.
Tape the flyer on itor just use a Sharpie.
Tape the picture with some kindof waterproof packing tape.
Use a big sharpie.
Put the lost dog or lost cat andyour phone number as big as possible.
(13:09):
And then.
Put those at, strategic places aroundin the area where the pet was lost, but
brightly colored we think works best.
Dixie (13:18):
Yeah, so like a neon poster board, something like that?
Leslie (13:21):
Yes.
Yeah.
Neon poster.
It doesn't have to be fancy neonposter board, a black Sharpie
with your phone number and tapea picture of your pet on it.
Yeah, it doesn't have to be, itdoesn't have to be super fancy.
Dixie (13:35):
Yeah, that's a great tip.
What are some of the most commonchallenges or misconceptions people
face when they're trying to finda lost pet or reunite A found pet?
Leslie (13:46):
I think that there are a couple things.
So one of the things we see all the timeand Jeanette probably talked about this
as well, is people assuming that they'regonna be able to call their dog and their
dog's gonna come right back to them.
I think people are really surprised howquickly a pet can go into survival mode
and they may not come running back.
So there's a little bit of aneducation that we try to do.
(14:08):
On how to treat that lostpet and what to expect.
We also want to getpeople out and searching.
We don't want them to.
Enter a report in our databaseand then sit back and wait.
It's really important to get the word outto post in multiple places and get out and
search, especially if you have a lost cat.
(14:30):
Searching is one of the best ways'cause they could be trapped somewhere.
So you wanna get out, search your yard,ask permission to search your neighbor's
yard, search in garages and sheds.
Just really pound the pavementagain to try to find that pet.
Also, it's really important that youhave good contact information and
(14:50):
people can get ahold of you quickly.
So that's a little bit of a struggle forus and our volunteers, especially when we
don't have great contact information orthe owner or the finder is not answering
their phone or answering their email.
So we just want people to be awarethat if you're, if you've found
a pet or lost a pet, please checkyour email and your voicemail often.
Dixie (15:13):
I do see that a lot too.
And I have a few lost petsgroups that I admin, and that's
one thing I see all the time.
It's people will post theirpets, but they never include
any kind of contact information.
Leslie (15:26):
Yeah.
And that's frustrating.
Dixie (15:30):
How crucial is micro chipping and what advice do you
have for any pet owners regardingmicrochip registration and update?
Leslie (15:39):
Yeah, so I think microchipping is essential.
Every pet should have a microchip.
We need, you need to make sure thatmicrochip information is updated, and
we recommend that every year when yougo to visit your vet, you have them
scanned, make sure the microchip is stillfunctioning and has it migrated, and
that you also check your registrationwith the company that has the microchip
(16:02):
registration to make sure it's up to date.
People don't realize sometimes theychange their cell phone number or they
move or they change their email addressand then that microchip, it doesn't
do any good if it doesn't have goodcontact information attached to it.
So we recommend at leastonce a year you check that.
Dixie (16:20):
So doing this, you certainly are knowledgeable
about the behaviors of lost pets.
Did you take any kind of classesor is this something that you
learned as you went along the way?
Leslie (16:33):
It's something I've learned as I've gone along the way, but we are very
fortunate in our organization that wehave several volunteers who have a lot
of experience working with lost petsand have taken classes and so I've been
fortunate to absorb their knowledge.
Dixie (16:50):
Yeah, that's great.
That's great.
So now you did say that your partnerorganizations will post on social media.
Do you see like local communitygroups also getting involved in, say,
sharing your flyers and the postsfrom their pages or from your pages?
Leslie (17:09):
Yeah, and that is our goal, so that they share from our pages.
And so we do, it just depends on the areaand how active the community groups are.
But yes, we do have a lot ofFacebook groups and other groups
just like city or town Facebookgroups that will share the posts.
And that's exactly what we want.
We really wanna get the word out.
(17:30):
We make it easy on the report toshare to Nextdoor and we encourage
everybody, if you've lost a pet,to share it to Nextdoor as well.
There's an easy click to share toNextdoor button on every report.
And so that's a great way to getthe word out to your neighbors.
Dixie (17:45):
Oh, that's good to know too.
'cause I didn't know there was an easyway to share things to Nextdoor, so
I'll definitely share that informationtoo in my social media groups.
Leslie (17:54):
Yeah.
Nextdoor is great andthose are your neighbors.
Those are the people mostlikely to have seen your pet.
So yeah, we always recommendthat you share to Nextdoor.
Dixie (18:04):
Yeah.
And you can always ask your neighborstoo, to check their cameras.
If you don't have cameras and they havecameras, they might be able to check
'em and help you out with that too.
Leslie (18:12):
Yes.
The ring cameras are great.
Yes, exactly.
Dixie (18:16):
What are some of the most important things pet owners can do
before their pet goes missing to increasethe chances of a successful reunion?
Leslie (18:26):
Yeah, I always have, we say have good id, so they should have
a collar, a well-fitting collar andan ID tag with your phone number.
That being microchipped, we know thatpets a lot of times go missing without
their collar, so your backup is yourmicrochip that needs to be registered
with your current information.
Just be diligent.
(18:46):
Make sure that your fences are ingood repair, that you're being careful
when you're opening and closing doors.
We've had a lot of bad weather in my area.
Not sure what it's doing in your area.
But we've had a lot of high winds and sobeing very careful, make sure that a fence
hasn't blown open, a gate isn't open.
When you're walking your pets,when you're walking your dog on
(19:06):
a leash, make sure that leash isfitting, that leash is tight, you
have a secure harness or collar.
Be aware, we are still hearingfireworks here too, so be aware
that there are loud noises and beprepared to react to that as well.
But the main thing is justhaving good identification.
Dixie (19:23):
Another thing too I would like to ask is how user friendly is pet fbi.org?
Because I know there's a lot ofolder individuals that aren't too
keen on using the internet, but theymay have a pet go missing there.
May might not be on socialmedia, so is it something that
would be easy for them to use?
Is it easy to navigate?
Leslie (19:45):
Yeah, I think it's easy to navigate the form.
The report form itself is just, it'sjust like you're filling out a form.
You're just going from field to fieldand entering the required information.
So not everybody feels comfortablewith that, but as far as a form on a
computer, I think it's pretty easy.
And they submit it.
The one thing we do encouragepeople to give a phone number,
(20:06):
but we also understand.
Especially maybe an older adultor somebody living alone may not
want to publish their phone number.
There is an option where they can enterthe phone number, but keep it private.
And we, that would be so thevolunteers can contact them.
So if they don't feel comfortablegiving that information out,
(20:27):
they can still enter it.
That gives us a way to contact them if weneed to, but it doesn't make it public.
Dixie (20:35):
And as far as the photos, do you just use one photo or can
people upload multiple photos?
Leslie (20:41):
It's just one photo at this point.
So yeah, we just recommend that youuse a really good photo that shows any
unusual markings that's clear that peoplewould be able to identify your pet with.
Dixie (20:54):
Now, have you come across situations when a pet may be missing
for a while and you might have a.
Say a found report come in andpeople are reluctant to think
it's their pet be just because oftheir pet being out for a while.
They, of course, theymight look different,
Leslie (21:10):
yeah, that has happened.
And yeah, it is amazing.
Even a pet that's only been missingfor a few days can look very different.
If they've run through the mud orwhatever may have happened in that time.
So we just encourage everybody,leave no stone unturned.
If you think there's a slightpossibility, it could be your pet.
Check it out.
Don't dismiss it, even ifthe pet's a long way away.
(21:33):
Somebody could have pickedhim up and transported him.
So yeah, we say check everything.
You just never know.
Dixie (21:40):
Yeah, it's definitely good advice.
I know that happened to meactually one time, and I
actually remember the cat's name.
His name was Meatball.
And I saw I, I saw this cat posted.
For some reason, I guess it was thename Meatball just stuck with me.
But I saw about maybe three monthslater, somebody posted a cat that
(22:01):
looked exactly like meatball, but itwas like about 20 miles away and I'm
like, I am pretty sure that is meatball.
So I sent that to over to the ownerand it ended up to beam his cat.
Leslie (22:15):
Oh wow.
Dixie (22:16):
Yeah.
Oh, that's
Leslie (22:17):
fantastic.
Yeah.
Dixie (22:18):
And don't know how it was an indoor cat.
So best we can guess is that eithersomebody picked him up or he just crawled
into somebody's truck and hitched a ride.
Leslie (22:28):
Yep.
Yeah, we've seen that happen.
The other thing we've seen happenis sometimes a finder will have
the dog groomed and they'lllook completely different.
You just we had that happen oncewhere they were all groomed and
pretty and, nobody recognized him.
So you just never know.
And other thing, we've seen a lotof our volunteers talk about this as
(22:50):
well, is sometimes when you take thepicture you're getting a mirror image.
So maybe they have a patch overone eye, but when you see the
picture, it's on the other eye.
So don't let that throw youoff, because sometimes the
picture can reverse the image.
Yeah, that's true.
So just because it's on theother side, don't discount it.
It could still be the same pet.
Dixie (23:09):
Yeah.
I never thought about that,but that's actually 100% true.
Leslie (23:14):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we've seen that happen too.
Keep that in mind.
Somebody will dismiss it and say,no, the patch is over the wrong eye.
And we're like, maybe not.
Dixie (23:21):
Ah, yeah, that's great advice right there.
So do you have a favorite orparticularly memorable happy tale
story of a pet being reunited?
Leslie (23:32):
Oh gosh, there's so many.
Yeah.
We had one where the cathad got escaped in a hotel.
And the people just kept coming back andputting up flyers and putting up flyers.
And some guy had taken the cat homewho had stayed at the hotel, found
the cat, took the cat home with him.
He was actually in another state.
The owners kept comingback and putting up flyers.
(23:53):
Finally, they got in touch withhim and he drove the cat all
the way back from another state.
To bring the cat home meet up withthe owners at the hotel, but he'd
bought, he'd taken the cat home andbought it, toys and everything, and
he brought all the cat and all his newaccessories back home to the owner.
Oh, wow.
But the persistence of, I know.
(24:14):
It was very sweet.
The persistence of the owner though,just kept going back to the hotel, kept
putting up flyers trying to get theword out, and eventually it worked.
Dixie (24:21):
Yeah, that's I see that a lot here actually.
Where people will lose their petsin the hotels or they'll be driving
through, they lose their pets andthey'll stay around for a few days
and, but they don't encourage theflyers, which I think is a big thing.
I really think, like you said,they need to go put the flyers
and put 'em all over that hotel.
(24:42):
Or at least keep calling thehotel and saying, Hey, can
you put your flyers back up?
Or the businesses thatare in the area too.
Leslie (24:50):
Yeah, exactly.
Persistence pays off.
It really does because likeyou've noticed, you've said,
not everybody's on social media.
Not everybody's looking at next door.
Not everybody's gonna see a flyer,so you have to do all the things,
you have to try to get the word outin every channel you possibly can
in hopes that somebody will see it.
Dixie (25:12):
So how many pets approximately has pet fbi.org
helped reunite over the years?
Leslie (25:19):
Oh gosh.
I wish I had a really good answer forthat because we've switched databases.
I don't have a total number.
We do manage about 90,000 reports a year.
That includes some shelter intakes.
We work with some shelters tohelp them with their intakes.
I can tell you that.
Around people.
We rely on people updating theirreports to know how many we've reunited.
(25:43):
But we do reunite about 47% oflost dogs and probably about 34,
30 5% of lost cats are reunited.
Again, we know those numbers are probablyhigher because not everybody updates
their reports, but that's just going on.
The reunited reports in our system.
Dixie (26:02):
Wow, that's quite a number.
Then if you do that many a year.
Leslie (26:07):
Yeah, it keeps us pretty busy and like I said,
we do work with some shelters.
And so we do encourage shelters ifthey're interested to reach out to us
and, we can pull their intakes from theirshelter software into our system as well.
Dixie (26:21):
And is that something that's easy for them to do?
Leslie (26:26):
It depends.
It the most of the work's onour end, but it depends on what
shelter software they're using.
Some of the shelter softwares are setup to integrate more easily, so it
just depends on their shelter software.
Dixie (26:38):
So what kind of impact do you aim to have on the broader
issue of lost and homeless pets?
Leslie (26:47):
So our vision for the world, if we were just, streaming is that every
pet gets back home so that there's a waywe know pets are always gonna get lost.
We would love it if we could preventthat, but if we could make sure that
every pet can find their way back home.
So that is encouraging microchipping,making sure people understand and use
(27:11):
ID tags, spaying and neutering pets.
Those are the things that'llhelp prevent pets from going
missing or getting back home.
So that's our goal is to make surethose pets have a way to get home.
Dixie (27:24):
And do you have pets of your own?
Leslie (27:28):
I do right now, we have, we just started fostering a cat last month.
It's already a foster fail, so
Dixie (27:36):
that's a good thing.
Leslie (27:37):
Yes, she's adorable.
So yes, we've had catsand dogs over the years.
Our oldest cat passed awaylast year at 19, and we took
a little break but now we're.
Now we're back in it with a new cat.
Dixie (27:54):
Congratulations on the foster fail.
Thank you.
For pet fbi.org,
do you do only dogs and cats, orhave you had any other species?
Leslie (28:07):
We do anything.
We have birds and reptiles, turtles,we've had horses, pigs, goats.
So yeah, anybody can entera report for any species.
The majority, probably 60%of our reports are dogs.
Close to 40% are cats.
(28:28):
And then there's 1% of other species,which are our birds and ferrets.
Other things.
Dixie (28:34):
And so what is the most unusual type you've seen?
Leslie (28:39):
We had, we did have a tortoise, a large tortoise that actually made
it probably a good two or threemiles before its family found it.
We had some goats not too long ago.
And I think we had a peacock.
Oh, okay.
A while back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, but we do get we do get birds.
(29:02):
We probably after dogs andcats, probably birds are the
most, so we do get birds that.
Wander away.
And we did just put a blog post upon our site about what to do if you
lose a bird, because that's somethingthat not everybody knows what to do.
So we put some newinformation up about that.
Dixie (29:19):
Can you go over that?
Leslie (29:23):
Yeah.
In fact.
The blog post.
So we actually, there is a group called9 1 1 Parent Alert and we collaborated
with 'em to use some of their informationfor this post because they do a lot.
They have a lot of information on how toget your bird back, but basically you want
(29:45):
to, it's a lot of the same things you dofor any pet is conduct a physical search.
'Cause they're usually within a halfa mile to two miles within the home.
So you wanna, look up as opposed to maybewith a dog, you wanna be looking up in
the trees and as you're looking for yourbird and their advice is the best time
(30:05):
to search is just before or after sunriseand later in the day around sunset,
because that's when birds are most vocal.
And again, you wanted to use signsand flyers to spread the word.
And if you have, you can takeyour birds enclosure outside.
So if you have a safe, secure place,you can put their food and water out in
(30:25):
the enclosure and leave the door open.
And so some of your, some birdsmay fly right back in their cage.
If you have a recording of your bird'svocalizations you, they say to play that
and that might attract them to come home.
But other than that, it's the sameprocess as for other pets, which is
(30:46):
to get the word out, post a reportpost on next door, get flyers out
to your friends and neighbors, mailcarriers, UPS drivers, anybody who may
be in and out of your neighborhood.
I thought the cage thing was interesting,and also the sunrise, sunset, I think
is a good advice for looking for a bird.
Dixie (31:05):
Yeah I didn't know that.
I see quite a few lost birds.
I've never heard anybody mentionthat tip, so that is a great tip.
Leslie (31:13):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So if you go to our website,it's one of the blog posts
that's still on the front page.
You can click on it.
Dixie (31:21):
What are your hopes or future plans for your organization?
Are there any new initiativesor features in the works?
Leslie (31:30):
Yeah, we've been, testing some SMS messaging.
, We have some very large partnergroups like Lost Dogs, Illinois,
or Lost Dogs, Wisconsin.
And they have big volunteerteams and so they message, they
text every owner or finder.
We have some states that havea smaller group and may not
(31:50):
have the capacity to do that.
So we've implemented,texting, automated texting.
So once the report comes in, ifwe have their phone number, we
will send them a series of textmessages with advice, with a link to
here's the link to make your flyer.
Here are the first fivethings that you wanna do.
So it's just a series of text messagesto keep them engaged and encourage them
(32:12):
what steps to take next to find their pet.
So we started that a few months ago.
It's been met with pretty good success.
People seem to like it, sowe're excited about that.
Dixie (32:24):
And for our listeners who want to help, how can they
best support petffbi.org's
mission
Leslie (32:33):
Tell your friends, promote it on social media.
If you know somebody who's losta pet, please encourage them to
come to our website@petfpi.org
and enter a report.
They can go to our homepage and ifthey scroll down, there's a place
where they can sign up for emailalerts so anybody can sign up to
get alerts of lost and found pets intheir area, and they can help match.
(32:54):
Lost and found pets themselves.
So that's a great way to help.
If they wanna get more involved, there'sa volunteer application on our site
if they'd like to be part of our team.
And of course, we're also always needingdonations and so they can go to our
website and make a donation as well.
Dixie (33:12):
And before we end this call, what one piece of advice would you
give to someone who has just lost theirpet and feels completely hopeless?
Leslie (33:23):
Don't give up hope Don't panic.
There are people who are ableto help you get the word out.
Stay calm.
Most pets are reunited.
It's just so overwhelming andterrifying when you lose your pet.
But take the advice on our site.
Take the advice of ourvolunteers, do the steps.
(33:45):
There's a very good chanceyou'll find your pet.
Dixie (33:48):
And I think the stats that you gave us with the number of pets that you
get in a year, the reports yearly thatyou get, and the number that's reunited,
that kind of almost speaks for itself too.
It definitely don't lose hope.
Leslie (34:02):
Absolutely.
And don't give up.
Most pets are found within thefirst few days, but it can go on for
weeks, months, even years sometimes.
So yeah, never give up.
We see some miraculous reunions.
Dixie (34:18):
Thank you so much for joining me.
I love your passion for lost Pets,and I'm glad we were able to have
this conversation, and hopefullythis'll help get more pets home.
Leslie (34:27):
Yes, I hope so.
Thank you so much.
It was wonderful to talk to you.
Dixie (34:31):
That's all the time that we have for today's episode.
Thank you for listening andwe hope you join us next week.
If you know somebody that loves animalsas much as I do, please send 'em our way.
We would love to talk to 'em.
If you are enjoying our show, pleaseconsider leaving us a donation.
A hundred percent goes to our animals.
Suno (34:52):
Paws in
the night Claws in thefight Whiskers twitch and
tails
take flight
They’re calling in Stories to spinFrom the wild to the heart within
(35:19):
Broken wings and hopeful springsWe’re the voices for these things
animal posse hear the call.
We stand together.
Big and small Rescue tales We’vegot it all Animal posse Saving
(35:47):
them
all
The vet’s got tips The rescuer’sgrit The foster homes where love
won’t quit From a pup in the rain toa bird in pain , Every soul’s worth
(36:15):
the
strain
Animal posse
Hear the call
We stand together Big
(36:40):
and small Rescue tales We’ve gotit all Animal posse Saving them all
Every collar tells a tale, everyhowl a whispered wail, we rise up.
We never
(37:01):
fail.
This
is
the
bond
The holy grail
(37:21):
Animal posse Hear the call We standtogether Big and small Rescue tales We’ve
got it all Animal posse Saving them all
(37:46):
Every collar tells a tale Every howla whispered wail We rise up We never
fail This is the bond The holy grail.
Song by Suno.ai
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