Missing/Found

What to do if your pet is missing :

Since we receive hundreds of stray animals every week, we require that you come to the shelter to look for your missing pet. Unless your pet has positive identification (microchip, tags) when it comes in to the shelter, information will not be given out over the phone.

Important steps you should take to find your pet:

  1. Come to the shelter to look! Come as often as you can, as animals are coming in constantly throughout the day. Be sure to check the "Found Reports" as well as the "DOA Reports."
  2. Post signs around your neighborhood. Include a color photo of your pet as well as a detailed description including age, sex, whether he/she is spayed/neutered, whether he/she had a collar on, where and when he/she was last seen, and your contact information. Post these signs in veterinary offices, as well as in the "Missing Animal" book at the shelter.
  3. Place an ad in the local newspaper(s), and be sure to check these ads to see if someone has found your pet.
  4. Most importantly, don't give up! Often times, animals turn up at shelters weeks or even months after they've gone missing.

Animals without any means of identification are held at the shelter for 3 days, while animals with either a microchip or tags are held for 5 days. Please keep in mind that while your pet may have had a collar with tags on when you saw him/her last, collars and tags do fall off, so please do not count on them. For this reason, we highly recommend microchipping!

We strongly suggest you visit our facility regularly while you are looking for your missingpet. After the reclaim period, animals are evaluated for health and temperament and may subsequently be put up for adoption, transferred out to a rescue agency, placed into foster care, or euthanized, all depending on space and availability of resources at that time.

What to do if you have found a pet :

You have two options open to you if you have found a stray animal. You may either request that animal control pick the animal up or bring it to the shelter yourself, or you may choose to house the animal until the owner can be found.

If you choose to keep the animal with you while searching for the owner, we ask that you call (575) 382-0018 and make a "Found Report," which provides the description of the animal, the location found, and your contact information. You can also email the information to us. We also strongly suggest that you bring the animal by the shelter so that we may scan the animal to check for a microchip, and so that we can get a picture of the animal to post with the found report.