The COVID-19 crisis has prompted the Monterey County and Salinas Animal Services operations to speed up their consolidation plans. They are now working together within the County’s animal shelter at 160 Hitchcock Road. Services such as animal control and pet licensing within the jurisdictions remain separate; however. operations within the shelter and social media are beginning to integrate as Hitchcock Road Animal Services.

To help the community with lost and found pets, Hitchcock Road Animal Services is launching the Lost2Found Texting Program. This innovative program will work for people who are looking for lost pets as well as people who have found animals. Currently, only one out of three dogs and one out of ten cats at the shelter is found by their owner, requiring the shelter to find new homes or rescue placement for thousands of animals each year. One of the biggest roadblocks in getting these animals and owners reunited is owners knowing where to find information. The average person who loses a pet doesn’t understand lost pet behavior, evidence-based strategies or which shelters are nearby. Often owners give up looking or just hope the pet will return home.

This is where a new text messaging program called Lost2Found can help. When an owner texts the word 831LOST to 56525, they are guided through the entire process of finding a lost pet, from links to view animals on local shelters’ websites to in-depth video tutorials proven to help lost pets find their way home. This platform, which uses technology to increase owner redemptions, has been very successful in other California cities like Sacramento, which developed and duplicated the program for others to use.

This program also works for found pets. When a good Samaritan who finds a pet texts the word 831FOUND to 56525, they are guided through a series of tips to help reunite the pet with owner before the animal needs to enter the shelter. For more information on lost and found pets, please visit www.hitchcockroadanimals.org.