Social media is becoming a common and effective tool for those looking to find their lost pets in Calgary, according to the city’s humane society.
“Having the social media aspect creates a farther reach, more eyes and more awareness,” Phil Fulton, the Calgary Humane Society community outreach manager, said in a recent interview.
“It just creates more avenues for people to find their pet.”
A recent example of this occurred in the Calgary community of Coventry Hills. Taylor Brown, a resident there, said a lost dog was found by his neighbour and he decided to write a post on Facebook about the finding.
“He was ecstatic, he’s over the moon and anyone would be.”
Brown posted a picture of the lost dog and the message on Reddit and Facebook. The post was further shared by an online group called ‘YYC Pet Recovery.’
“It hugely shows the power of social media,” Brown said.
“In a grand total of less than two hours, we had a dog found and back in his owner’s possession.”
However, Fulton warned against only relying on social media in an owner’s effort to reunite with their lost animal.
“There’s lots of people in our community that aren’t on social media, so your animal might be with your neighbour who’s not on social media,” Fulton said.
“You really do have to do your due diligence and make sure that you’re alerting every agency about the lost animal, in addition to social media.”