Digital Detectives: How PetFBI.org Helps Reunite Families

Dixie: 00:00:02

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Joining me today is Leslie

Poole with pet fbi.org.

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Leslie: Hi Dixie.

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Dixie: Hi Leslie.

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Thank you for joining me today.

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I am excited to speak with

you about pet fbi.org.

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Leslie: Yeah, thank you for inviting me.

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I'm excited to talk about it.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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A couple of weeks ago we

had, Jeanette Garlow, and she

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was with microchip help.com

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and Lost Dogs Illinois, and she

said that you were her partner

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database, so that's why I thought

it would be a good conversation.

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Leslie: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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We work very closely with them.

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They're one of our many partner groups

across the United States and Canada.

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Dixie: That's awesome.

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So before we get started, tell me

a little bit about yourself and

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how you became an animal advocate.

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Leslie: Yeah I grew up with pets we

always had pets around the house.

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I raised my children to have pets

and I was in the nonprofit world

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for many years as a fundraiser

and a nonprofit administrator.

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I had the nonprofit background.

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But then as I started getting to the

point where I was stepping back a little

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bit from that position the pet FBI thing

up and pet FBI was started in: 1998

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I didn't get involved until 2017.

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And it was actually my son that.

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Got me involved because he had

started volunteering for PET FBI.

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And at the time, the executive

director who was the founder,

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Marisa Fanelli, was getting ready to

retire and was looking for somebody

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to step in and take her place.

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And so actually, my son put

us in contact and I loved the

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organization, loved the mission.

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It was just felt like such a good fit.

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And so I stepped in as executive director.

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Dixie: Can you tell me a little

bit about what the core mission is?

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Leslie: Yeah, absolutely.

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So our mission is to reunite lost

pets with their families, and our

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goal is to do that always free of

charge through our technology our

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expert information and the caring

community of volunteers that we have.

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So we provide a free database where

anybody can go online@petfpi.org

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and enter a lost or found PET report.

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When that report is entered,

email alerts are sent out.

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It gets in our database, which is

searchable, and then it's shared

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with all of our partner organizations

and they share it to social media.

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And we have all of these fabulous

volunteers like Jeanette and many

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others who reach out to those folks

just to give them support and advice

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and help them find their lost pets.

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Dixie: How is it that you come

across the partner organizations?

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Leslie: Yeah, so there was another

organization called Helping Lost

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Pets, and they were based in Canada,

and then there's another organization

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called Lost Dogs of America, and

one called Lost Cats of America.

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And so we have all partnered together.

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It started with us partnering with

helping Lost Pets, and they had a a

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very similar mission to ours, which

was to provide a free database.

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And they had already collaborated with

Lost Dogs of America and Lost Cats of

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America and all of their state groups.

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So when we started working with

them, we just joined the family.

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And we worked with helping

lost pets for several years.

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Collaborating with them and sharing

our reports back and forth, and

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working with the partner groups.

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Then in 2021 when their director,

Rob Goddard was ready to retire

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it just made sense to merge.

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So we merged with helping

lost Pets at that point and

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brought it all under Pet FBI.

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Dixie: I love to hear that you were

working with these other groups with

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the Helping Lost Pets and The Lost Cats

of America and Lost Dogs of America.

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That's great that all

work for the same goal.

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Leslie: Yeah, once we got to

talking our missions were the same.

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And so there was no

reason to be competitive.

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Let's all work together.

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The goal is to get lost pets back

home, however we can do that.

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And working together just makes

it so much more effective.

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And so much better for the people who

are just struggling to find their pets.

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Dixie: Absolutely.

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So you said that the pet fbi.org

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first started in 1998.

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So how has it evolved I

guess up to now from: 1998

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Like how were reports handled

back then and how are they

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handled now, if you know that?

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Yeah.

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Leslie: Yeah.

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In 1998, it was very early days for

the internet, so this was really

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one of the first online databases.

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And Marisa had worked with a

local internet service provider

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here in Columbus, Ohio,

which is where we are based.

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And , it was just serving the

central Ohio area at that time.

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So it was really a novel concept.

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In 1998, that was just the beginnings

of people going online and posting.

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So it was more of a bulletin

board kind of thing.

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At that point.

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And then it's just as technology

has evolved, it's grown and evolved.

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So it started growing to serve all

of Ohio and then went from there

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to be, serving all of the United

States and Canada at this point.

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But yeah, as technology has

grown, we've grown as well.

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Dixie: Now with your platform, are

there paid services or is everything

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on your platform free of charge?

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Leslie: Everything we

do is free of charge.

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So we are a 5 0 1 C3.

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We're a nonprofit organization.

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We are completely supported by donations.

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So if somebody marks their report

as reunited, their pet is back home.

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We do ask if they wanna pay it

forward and make a donation.

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But there is no fee to do anything on

our site so anybody can report a pet

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for completely free of charge and they

get the same service no matter what.

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Dixie: The donations that you

receive, what do you use that for?

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Leslie: Yeah, it mostly goes

toward our technology costs.

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Hosting the platform, sending

emails sending text messages.

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There's just a lot of things that go into

supporting the technology that we use.

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That's basically what it goes for.

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We also have a Good Sam fund where we.

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We'll help shelters, we'll help owners out

if they can't pay a shelter, reclaim fee.

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We also donate microchip scanners to

police departments and things like that.

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But the bulk of it goes to

supporting our technology,

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Dixie: and I could imagine

that can get costly as well,

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just maintaining the database.

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Leslie: Yeah.

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Yes, absolutely.

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And sending emails.

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We send an incredible amount of

emails on both potential match

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alerts and anybody can go on our

site and sign up to receive emails

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of lost and found pets in their area.

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So yeah, all of those things that

you don't think about add up.

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That's why we need those donations

and we're very fortunate that people

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are generous and donate to us.

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Dixie: So since there is a lot

of tech involved, I would imagine

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that, do you have an IT person

that you work with as well?

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Leslie: We do.

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It's actually my son.

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Oh, okay.

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Who built the database?

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Dixie: Oh, that's awesome.

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That's awesome.

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Leslie: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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We don't have paid staff.

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We are a volunteer.

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But yeah, he does all of

the technology pieces of it.

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Occasionally we do outsource things as

we have to do and . We have to pay the

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Amazon web services for everything.

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So yeah, we have a lot

of those kinds of costs.

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Dixie: So walk us through the process.

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If someone loses a pet, what

are the immediate steps that

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they should take on pet fbi.org?

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Leslie: Yeah, so go to pet fbi.org

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and the first thing they're gonna

wanna do is go to the button that says

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Create a report, and they're gonna

enter their report in the system.

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It's a easy form, it'll walk them through.

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They'll need to create an account with

us, and that's just so we can make sure

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they're a real person and we have a way

to contact them and they'll upload a

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photo of their pet and submit the report.

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Once they submit the report

they will get a confirmation

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with, from us, with some tips.

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That report is then emailed out.

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So let's say they entered a lost PET

report, lost dog report in Columbus.

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They're gonna immediately get all the

found dog reports in the Columbus area

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that match up with the date and location.

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So we'll first get those.

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Those matching potential match reports

and their lost report is gonna be

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sent to all the found report people

who are registered in our database.

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So that happens.

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The report is then in our database

to be searched, and then it's also

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sent to our partner group immediately

to be posted on their Facebook page.

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And for the most part, most of

our partner groups, that report is

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auto posted on their Facebook page.

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So it's immediately

showing up on social media.

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Dixie: So there's a feature where

it'll automatically get uploaded to

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their pages, and so they don't have

to go in and physically do that?

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Leslie: That's correct, yes.

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It does get automatically uploaded,

however, because these are

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volunteers all of those are curated.

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So they're checking all of those

posts just to make sure that they're

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correct that they uploaded properly.

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So somebody's looking at all

of those reports, but they

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do get uploaded immediately.

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Dixie: You said that if somebody posts

a lost pet, and then if somebody posts

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a found pet, then at that time the

system will try to do the match itself.

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Can you explain that a little bit more?

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Leslie: Yeah, so the system will,

at this point, it's just looking

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at species and location and date.

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So it's not gonna look at the photos

right now, but if you have a found

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dog that's, you have a lost dog and

there's a found dog posted within 25

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miles and it matches the date criteria,

you're gonna get that email alert.

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So a lot of them are not gonna be

a match, but we, at this point, we

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feel like we'd rather send too many

than miss something accidentally.

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What we found is that people who

have found a pet, sometimes they

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misidentify the breed or the gender.

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So we don't wanna filter by those criteria

when we're emailing out potential matches.

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Dixie: Do you have any plans in the

future of possibly using AI technology

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to help more with matching the pets?

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Leslie: Yes, thanks for bringing that up

because we are playing around with it.

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We do use some AI right now, so if you

would go into our database and create

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a report and upload a photo, our system

will automatically fill in the species.

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The breed and the color just by looking

at the photo, which saves the person who's

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entering the report a little bit of time.

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And it's also really nice for

somebody with a found pet who may

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not know what dog breed that is.

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So we do use AI in that way.

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But we're still playing around with it.

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We are looking at how we can

maybe make the matching process a

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little better by using technology.

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Dixie: With the volunteers that you have

that are contributing to reuniting pets,

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do they receive any kind of special

alerts or anything that would help them?

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Leslie: Every time a report is

posted in their area, let's say

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they're for lost dogs, Illinois.

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Anytime they get a dog report in Illinois,

they automatically get an email alert.

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So they know that report has come

in, so they can quickly go in, post

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it to Facebook, look at the report,

and then they can reach out to

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the owner or finder at that time.

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Dixie: Now beyond the database, what

other resources or advice does pet fbi.org

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offer to pet owners and finders?

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Do you have any kind of like

flyers, templates action plans?

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Leslie: We do.

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So when they get their first confirmation

email, they'll have links back to our

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database or back to our website linking

them to the Lost Cat or the Lost Dog

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Action Plan, or the found pet action plan.

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We have lots of blog posts on

our website with, tips and advice

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that they can scroll through.

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We also have a flyer template and

so we encourage them to make their

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flyer immediately, which they

can do right from their report.

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So as soon as the report is entered,

they can go right in and make a flyer

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and it fills in all of the information.

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All they have to do is download it

and print it and so it's ready to go.

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We really encourage flyers and signs.

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So we wanna tell people to get out

there, pound the pavement and distribute

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those flyers when your pet is lost.

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Dixie: Okay, so you mentioned signs.

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So what kind of signs would you recommend?

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Leslie: So they can take

the flyer from our site.

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The first signs we always

recommend brightly colored.

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So getting brightly colored poster

board, like neon colored poster board.

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Tape the flyer on it

or just use a Sharpie.

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Tape the picture with some kind

of waterproof packing tape.

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Use a big sharpie.

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Put the lost dog or lost cat and

your phone number as big as possible.

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And then.

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Put those at, strategic places around

in the area where the pet was lost, but

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brightly colored we think works best.

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Dixie: Yeah, so like a neon

poster board, something like that?

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Leslie: Yes.

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Yeah.

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Neon poster.

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It doesn't have to be fancy neon

poster board, a black Sharpie

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with your phone number and tape

a picture of your pet on it.

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Yeah, it doesn't have to be, it

doesn't have to be super fancy.

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Dixie: Yeah, that's a great tip.

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What are some of the most common

challenges or misconceptions people

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face when they're trying to find

a lost pet or reunite A found pet?

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Leslie: I think that

there are a couple things.

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So one of the things we see all the time

and Jeanette probably talked about this

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as well, is people assuming that they're

gonna be able to call their dog and their

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dog's gonna come right back to them.

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I think people are really surprised how

quickly a pet can go into survival mode

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and they may not come running back.

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So there's a little bit of an

education that we try to do.

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On how to treat that lost

pet and what to expect.

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We also want to get

people out and searching.

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We don't want them to.

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Enter a report in our database

and then sit back and wait.

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It's really important to get the word out

to post in multiple places and get out and

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search, especially if you have a lost cat.

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Searching is one of the best ways

'cause they could be trapped somewhere.

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So you wanna get out, search your yard,

ask permission to search your neighbor's

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yard, search in garages and sheds.

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Just really pound the pavement

again to try to find that pet.

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Also, it's really important that you

have good contact information and

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people can get ahold of you quickly.

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So that's a little bit of a struggle for

us and our volunteers, especially when we

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don't have great contact information or

the owner or the finder is not answering

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their phone or answering their email.

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So we just want people to be aware

that if you're, if you've found

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a pet or lost a pet, please check

your email and your voicemail often.

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Dixie: I do see that a lot too.

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And I have a few lost pets

groups that I admin, and that's

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one thing I see all the time.

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It's people will post their

pets, but they never include

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any kind of contact information.

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Leslie: Yeah.

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And that's frustrating.

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Dixie: How crucial is micro

chipping and what advice do you

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have for any pet owners regarding

microchip registration and update?

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Leslie: Yeah, so I think

microchipping is essential.

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Every pet should have a microchip.

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We need, you need to make sure that

microchip information is updated, and

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we recommend that every year when you

go to visit your vet, you have them

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scanned, make sure the microchip is still

functioning and has it migrated, and

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that you also check your registration

with the company that has the microchip

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registration to make sure it's up to date.

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People don't realize sometimes they

change their cell phone number or they

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move or they change their email address

and then that microchip, it doesn't

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do any good if it doesn't have good

contact information attached to it.

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So we recommend at least

once a year you check that.

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Dixie: So doing this, you

certainly are knowledgeable

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about the behaviors of lost pets.

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Did you take any kind of classes

or is this something that you

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learned as you went along the way?

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Leslie: It's something I've learned as

I've gone along the way, but we are very

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fortunate in our organization that we

have several volunteers who have a lot

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of experience working with lost pets

and have taken classes and so I've been

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fortunate to absorb their knowledge.

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Dixie: Yeah, that's great.

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That's great.

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So now you did say that your partner

organizations will post on social media.

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Do you see like local community

groups also getting involved in, say,

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sharing your flyers and the posts

from their pages or from your pages?

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Leslie: Yeah, and that is our goal,

so that they share from our pages.

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And so we do, it just depends on the area

and how active the community groups are.

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But yes, we do have a lot of

Facebook groups and other groups

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just like city or town Facebook

groups that will share the posts.

312

: 00:17:26

And that's exactly what we want.

313

: 00:17:28

We really wanna get the word out.

314

: 00:17:30

We make it easy on the report to

share to Nextdoor and we encourage

315

: 00:17:34

everybody, if you've lost a pet,

to share it to Nextdoor as well.

316

: 00:17:38

There's an easy click to share to

Nextdoor button on every report.

317

: 00:17:42

And so that's a great way to get

the word out to your neighbors.

318

: 00:17:45

Dixie: Oh, that's good to know too.

319

: 00:17:47

'cause I didn't know there was an easy

way to share things to Nextdoor, so

320

: 00:17:50

I'll definitely share that information

too in my social media groups.

321

: 00:17:54

Leslie: Yeah.

322

: 00:17:55

Nextdoor is great and

those are your neighbors.

323

: 00:17:57

Those are the people most

likely to have seen your pet.

324

: 00:18:00

So yeah, we always recommend

that you share to Nextdoor.

325

: 00:18:04

Dixie: Yeah.

326

: 00:18:04

And you can always ask your neighbors

too, to check their cameras.

327

: 00:18:07

If you don't have cameras and they have

cameras, they might be able to check

328

: 00:18:09

'em and help you out with that too.

329

: 00:18:12

Leslie: Yes.

330

: 00:18:12

The ring cameras are great.

331

: 00:18:14

Yes, exactly.

332

: 00:18:16

Dixie: What are some of the most

important things pet owners can do

333

: 00:18:19

before their pet goes missing to increase

the chances of a successful reunion?

334

: 00:18:26

Leslie: Yeah, I always have, we say

have good id, so they should have

335

: 00:18:30

a collar, a well-fitting collar and

an ID tag with your phone number.

336

: 00:18:34

That being microchipped, we know that

pets a lot of times go missing without

337

: 00:18:38

their collar, so your backup is your

microchip that needs to be registered

338

: 00:18:42

with your current information.

339

: 00:18:44

Just be diligent.

340

: 00:18:46

Make sure that your fences are in

good repair, that you're being careful

341

: 00:18:50

when you're opening and closing doors.

342

: 00:18:52

We've had a lot of bad weather in my area.

343

: 00:18:55

Not sure what it's doing in your area.

344

: 00:18:57

But we've had a lot of high winds and so

being very careful, make sure that a fence

345

: 00:19:01

hasn't blown open, a gate isn't open.

346

: 00:19:04

When you're walking your pets,

when you're walking your dog on

347

: 00:19:06

a leash, make sure that leash is

fitting, that leash is tight, you

348

: 00:19:10

have a secure harness or collar.

349

: 00:19:12

Be aware, we are still hearing

fireworks here too, so be aware

350

: 00:19:16

that there are loud noises and be

prepared to react to that as well.

351

: 00:19:20

But the main thing is just

having good identification.

352

: 00:19:23

Dixie: Another thing too I would like to

ask is how user friendly is pet fbi.org?

353

: 00:19:29

Because I know there's a lot of

older individuals that aren't too

354

: 00:19:32

keen on using the internet, but they

may have a pet go missing there.

355

: 00:19:36

May might not be on social

media, so is it something that

356

: 00:19:40

would be easy for them to use?

357

: 00:19:41

Is it easy to navigate?

358

: 00:19:45

Leslie: Yeah, I think it's

easy to navigate the form.

359

: 00:19:47

The report form itself is just, it's

just like you're filling out a form.

360

: 00:19:51

You're just going from field to field

and entering the required information.

361

: 00:19:55

So not everybody feels comfortable

with that, but as far as a form on a

362

: 00:19:59

computer, I think it's pretty easy.

363

: 00:20:01

And they submit it.

364

: 00:20:03

The one thing we do encourage

people to give a phone number,

365

: 00:20:06

but we also understand.

366

: 00:20:08

Especially maybe an older adult

or somebody living alone may not

367

: 00:20:12

want to publish their phone number.

368

: 00:20:14

There is an option where they can enter

the phone number, but keep it private.

369

: 00:20:19

And we, that would be so the

volunteers can contact them.

370

: 00:20:23

So if they don't feel comfortable

giving that information out,

371

: 00:20:27

they can still enter it.

372

: 00:20:29

That gives us a way to contact them if we

need to, but it doesn't make it public.

373

: 00:20:35

Dixie: And as far as the photos,

do you just use one photo or can

374

: 00:20:38

people upload multiple photos?

375

: 00:20:41

Leslie: It's just one photo at this point.

376

: 00:20:43

So yeah, we just recommend that you

use a really good photo that shows any

377

: 00:20:47

unusual markings that's clear that people

would be able to identify your pet with.

378

: 00:20:54

Dixie: Now, have you come across

situations when a pet may be missing

379

: 00:20:58

for a while and you might have a.

380

: 00:21:00

Say a found report come in and

people are reluctant to think

381

: 00:21:05

it's their pet be just because of

their pet being out for a while.

382

: 00:21:08

They, of course, they

might look different,

383

: 00:21:10

Leslie: yeah, that has happened.

384

: 00:21:12

And yeah, it is amazing.

385

: 00:21:13

Even a pet that's only been missing

for a few days can look very different.

386

: 00:21:17

If they've run through the mud or

whatever may have happened in that time.

387

: 00:21:21

So we just encourage everybody,

leave no stone unturned.

388

: 00:21:25

If you think there's a slight

possibility, it could be your pet.

389

: 00:21:28

Check it out.

390

: 00:21:29

Don't dismiss it, even if

the pet's a long way away.

391

: 00:21:33

Somebody could have picked

him up and transported him.

392

: 00:21:36

So yeah, we say check everything.

393

: 00:21:38

You just never know.

394

: 00:21:40

Dixie: Yeah, it's definitely good advice.

395

: 00:21:42

I know that happened to me

actually one time, and I

396

: 00:21:45

actually remember the cat's name.

397

: 00:21:46

His name was Meatball.

398

: 00:21:48

And I saw I, I saw this cat posted.

399

: 00:21:52

For some reason, I guess it was the

name Meatball just stuck with me.

400

: 00:21:55

But I saw about maybe three months

later, somebody posted a cat that

401

: 00:22:01

looked exactly like meatball, but it

was like about 20 miles away and I'm

402

: 00:22:07

like, I am pretty sure that is meatball.

403

: 00:22:10

So I sent that to over to the owner

and it ended up to beam his cat.

404

: 00:22:15

Leslie: Oh wow.

405

: 00:22:16

Dixie: Yeah.

406

: 00:22:17

Oh, that's

407

: 00:22:17

Leslie: fantastic.

408

: 00:22:18

Yeah.

409

: 00:22:18

Dixie: And don't know

how it was an indoor cat.

410

: 00:22:20

So best we can guess is that either

somebody picked him up or he just crawled

411

: 00:22:25

into somebody's truck and hitched a ride.

412

: 00:22:28

Leslie: Yep.

413

: 00:22:28

Yeah, we've seen that happen.

414

: 00:22:30

The other thing we've seen happen

is sometimes a finder will have

415

: 00:22:33

the dog groomed and they'll

look completely different.

416

: 00:22:38

You just we had that happen once

where they were all groomed and

417

: 00:22:41

pretty and, nobody recognized him.

418

: 00:22:44

So you just never know.

419

: 00:22:46

And other thing, we've seen a lot

of our volunteers talk about this as

420

: 00:22:50

well, is sometimes when you take the

picture you're getting a mirror image.

421

: 00:22:54

So maybe they have a patch over

one eye, but when you see the

422

: 00:22:56

picture, it's on the other eye.

423

: 00:22:58

So don't let that throw you

off, because sometimes the

424

: 00:23:01

picture can reverse the image.

425

: 00:23:03

Yeah, that's true.

426

: 00:23:04

So just because it's on the

other side, don't discount it.

427

: 00:23:07

It could still be the same pet.

428

: 00:23:09

Dixie: Yeah.

429

: 00:23:09

I never thought about that,

but that's actually 100% true.

430

: 00:23:14

Leslie: Yeah.

431

: 00:23:14

Yeah.

432

: 00:23:15

So we've seen that happen too.

433

: 00:23:16

Keep that in mind.

434

: 00:23:17

Somebody will dismiss it and say,

no, the patch is over the wrong eye.

435

: 00:23:19

And we're like, maybe not.

436

: 00:23:21

Dixie: Ah, yeah, that's

great advice right there.

437

: 00:23:23

So do you have a favorite or

particularly memorable happy tale

438

: 00:23:28

story of a pet being reunited?

439

: 00:23:32

Leslie: Oh gosh, there's so many.

440

: 00:23:34

Yeah.

441

: 00:23:35

We had one where the cat

had got escaped in a hotel.

442

: 00:23:39

And the people just kept coming back and

putting up flyers and putting up flyers.

443

: 00:23:43

And some guy had taken the cat home

who had stayed at the hotel, found

444

: 00:23:46

the cat, took the cat home with him.

445

: 00:23:48

He was actually in another state.

446

: 00:23:51

The owners kept coming

back and putting up flyers.

447

: 00:23:53

Finally, they got in touch with

him and he drove the cat all

448

: 00:23:56

the way back from another state.

449

: 00:23:59

To bring the cat home meet up with

the owners at the hotel, but he'd

450

: 00:24:03

bought, he'd taken the cat home and

bought it, toys and everything, and

451

: 00:24:06

he brought all the cat and all his new

accessories back home to the owner.

452

: 00:24:12

Oh, wow.

453

: 00:24:12

But the persistence of, I know.

454

: 00:24:14

It was very sweet.

455

: 00:24:14

The persistence of the owner though,

just kept going back to the hotel, kept

456

: 00:24:17

putting up flyers trying to get the

word out, and eventually it worked.

457

: 00:24:21

Dixie: Yeah, that's I see

that a lot here actually.

458

: 00:24:25

Where people will lose their pets

in the hotels or they'll be driving

459

: 00:24:30

through, they lose their pets and

they'll stay around for a few days

460

: 00:24:33

and, but they don't encourage the

flyers, which I think is a big thing.

461

: 00:24:36

I really think, like you said,

they need to go put the flyers

462

: 00:24:40

and put 'em all over that hotel.

463

: 00:24:42

Or at least keep calling the

hotel and saying, Hey, can

464

: 00:24:44

you put your flyers back up?

465

: 00:24:46

Or the businesses that

are in the area too.

466

: 00:24:50

Leslie: Yeah, exactly.

467

: 00:24:52

Persistence pays off.

468

: 00:24:53

It really does because like

you've noticed, you've said,

469

: 00:24:57

not everybody's on social media.

470

: 00:24:58

Not everybody's looking at next door.

471

: 00:25:00

Not everybody's gonna see a flyer,

so you have to do all the things,

472

: 00:25:04

you have to try to get the word out

in every channel you possibly can

473

: 00:25:09

in hopes that somebody will see it.

474

: 00:25:12

Dixie: So how many pets

approximately has pet fbi.org

475

: 00:25:16

helped reunite over the years?

476

: 00:25:19

Leslie: Oh gosh.

477

: 00:25:21

I wish I had a really good answer for

that because we've switched databases.

478

: 00:25:24

I don't have a total number.

479

: 00:25:26

We do manage about 90,000 reports a year.

480

: 00:25:29

That includes some shelter intakes.

481

: 00:25:31

We work with some shelters to

help them with their intakes.

482

: 00:25:35

I can tell you that.

483

: 00:25:37

Around people.

484

: 00:25:39

We rely on people updating their

reports to know how many we've reunited.

485

: 00:25:43

But we do reunite about 47% of

lost dogs and probably about 34,

486

: 00:25:49

30 5% of lost cats are reunited.

487

: 00:25:53

Again, we know those numbers are probably

higher because not everybody updates

488

: 00:25:58

their reports, but that's just going on.

489

: 00:26:00

The reunited reports in our system.

490

: 00:26:02

Dixie: Wow, that's quite a number.

491

: 00:26:03

Then if you do that many a year.

492

: 00:26:07

Leslie: Yeah, it keeps us

pretty busy and like I said,

493

: 00:26:09

we do work with some shelters.

494

: 00:26:11

And so we do encourage shelters if

they're interested to reach out to us

495

: 00:26:15

and, we can pull their intakes from their

shelter software into our system as well.

496

: 00:26:21

Dixie: And is that something

that's easy for them to do?

497

: 00:26:26

Leslie: It depends.

498

: 00:26:26

It the most of the work's on

our end, but it depends on what

499

: 00:26:30

shelter software they're using.

500

: 00:26:31

Some of the shelter softwares are set

up to integrate more easily, so it

501

: 00:26:35

just depends on their shelter software.

502

: 00:26:38

Dixie: So what kind of impact do

you aim to have on the broader

503

: 00:26:43

issue of lost and homeless pets?

504

: 00:26:47

Leslie: So our vision for the world, if

we were just, streaming is that every

505

: 00:26:53

pet gets back home so that there's a way

we know pets are always gonna get lost.

506

: 00:26:58

We would love it if we could prevent

that, but if we could make sure that

507

: 00:27:02

every pet can find their way back home.

508

: 00:27:06

So that is encouraging microchipping,

making sure people understand and use

509

: 00:27:11

ID tags, spaying and neutering pets.

510

: 00:27:13

Those are the things that'll

help prevent pets from going

511

: 00:27:16

missing or getting back home.

512

: 00:27:20

So that's our goal is to make sure

those pets have a way to get home.

513

: 00:27:24

Dixie: And do you have pets of your own?

514

: 00:27:28

Leslie: I do right now, we have, we

just started fostering a cat last month.

515

: 00:27:34

It's already a foster fail, so

516

: 00:27:36

Dixie: that's a good thing.

517

: 00:27:37

Leslie: Yes, she's adorable.

518

: 00:27:41

So yes, we've had cats

and dogs over the years.

519

: 00:27:44

Our oldest cat passed away

last year at 19, and we took

520

: 00:27:49

a little break but now we're.

521

: 00:27:51

Now we're back in it with a new cat.

522

: 00:27:54

Dixie: Congratulations on the foster fail.

523

: 00:27:57

Thank you.

524

: 00:28:00

For pet fbi.org,

525

: 00:28:02

do you do only dogs and cats, or

have you had any other species?

526

: 00:28:07

Leslie: We do anything.

527

: 00:28:09

We have birds and reptiles, turtles,

we've had horses, pigs, goats.

528

: 00:28:17

So yeah, anybody can enter

a report for any species.

529

: 00:28:21

The majority, probably 60%

of our reports are dogs.

530

: 00:28:26

Close to 40% are cats.

531

: 00:28:28

And then there's 1% of other species,

which are our birds and ferrets.

532

: 00:28:33

Other things.

533

: 00:28:34

Dixie: And so what is the

most unusual type you've seen?

534

: 00:28:39

Leslie: We had, we did have a tortoise,

a large tortoise that actually made

535

: 00:28:45

it probably a good two or three

miles before its family found it.

536

: 00:28:50

We had some goats not too long ago.

537

: 00:28:54

And I think we had a peacock.

538

: 00:28:56

Oh, okay.

539

: 00:28:57

A while back.

540

: 00:28:57

Yeah.

541

: 00:28:58

Yeah.

542

: 00:28:59

Yeah, but we do get we do get birds.

543

: 00:29:02

We probably after dogs and

cats, probably birds are the

544

: 00:29:05

most, so we do get birds that.

545

: 00:29:08

Wander away.

546

: 00:29:09

And we did just put a blog post up

on our site about what to do if you

547

: 00:29:13

lose a bird, because that's something

that not everybody knows what to do.

548

: 00:29:17

So we put some new

information up about that.

549

: 00:29:19

Dixie: Can you go over that?

550

: 00:29:23

Leslie: Yeah.

551

: 00:29:25

In fact.

552

: 00:29:27

The blog post.

553

: 00:29:28

So we actually, there is a group called

9 1 1 Parent Alert and we collaborated

554

: 00:29:33

with 'em to use some of their information

for this post because they do a lot.

555

: 00:29:40

They have a lot of information on how to

get your bird back, but basically you want

556

: 00:29:45

to, it's a lot of the same things you do

for any pet is conduct a physical search.

557

: 00:29:50

'Cause they're usually within a half

a mile to two miles within the home.

558

: 00:29:55

So you wanna, look up as opposed to maybe

with a dog, you wanna be looking up in

559

: 00:30:00

the trees and as you're looking for your

bird and their advice is the best time

560

: 00:30:05

to search is just before or after sunrise

and later in the day around sunset,

561

: 00:30:10

because that's when birds are most vocal.

562

: 00:30:12

And again, you wanted to use signs

and flyers to spread the word.

563

: 00:30:16

And if you have, you can take

your birds enclosure outside.

564

: 00:30:21

So if you have a safe, secure place,

you can put their food and water out in

565

: 00:30:25

the enclosure and leave the door open.

566

: 00:30:28

And so some of your, some birds

may fly right back in their cage.

567

: 00:30:32

If you have a recording of your bird's

vocalizations you, they say to play that

568

: 00:30:39

and that might attract them to come home.

569

: 00:30:42

But other than that, it's the same

process as for other pets, which is

570

: 00:30:46

to get the word out, post a report

post on next door, get flyers out

571

: 00:30:49

to your friends and neighbors, mail

carriers, UPS drivers, anybody who may

572

: 00:30:54

be in and out of your neighborhood.

573

: 00:30:58

I thought the cage thing was interesting,

and also the sunrise, sunset, I think

574

: 00:31:02

is a good advice for looking for a bird.

575

: 00:31:05

Dixie: Yeah I didn't know that.

576

: 00:31:06

I see quite a few lost birds.

577

: 00:31:09

I've never heard anybody mention

that tip, so that is a great tip.

578

: 00:31:13

Leslie: Yeah.

579

: 00:31:14

Yeah.

580

: 00:31:15

So if you go to our website,

it's one of the blog posts

581

: 00:31:18

that's still on the front page.

582

: 00:31:19

You can click on it.

583

: 00:31:21

Dixie: What are your hopes or

future plans for your organization?

584

: 00:31:25

Are there any new initiatives

or features in the works?

585

: 00:31:30

Leslie: Yeah, we've been,

testing some SMS messaging.

586

: 00:31:35

, We have some very large partner

groups like Lost Dogs, Illinois,

587

: 00:31:39

or Lost Dogs, Wisconsin.

588

: 00:31:41

And they have big volunteer

teams and so they message, they

589

: 00:31:44

text every owner or finder.

590

: 00:31:47

We have some states that have

a smaller group and may not

591

: 00:31:50

have the capacity to do that.

592

: 00:31:52

So we've implemented,

texting, automated texting.

593

: 00:31:55

So once the report comes in, if

we have their phone number, we

594

: 00:31:58

will send them a series of text

messages with advice, with a link to

595

: 00:32:02

here's the link to make your flyer.

596

: 00:32:04

Here are the first five

things that you wanna do.

597

: 00:32:06

So it's just a series of text messages

to keep them engaged and encourage them

598

: 00:32:12

what steps to take next to find their pet.

599

: 00:32:15

So we started that a few months ago.

600

: 00:32:18

It's been met with pretty good success.

601

: 00:32:20

People seem to like it, so

we're excited about that.

602

: 00:32:24

Dixie: And for our listeners

who want to help, how can they

603

: 00:32:28

best support petffbi.org's

604

: 00:32:31

mission

605

: 00:32:33

Leslie: Tell your friends,

promote it on social media.

606

: 00:32:35

If you know somebody who's lost

a pet, please encourage them to

607

: 00:32:38

come to our website@petfpi.org

608

: 00:32:41

and enter a report.

609

: 00:32:43

They can go to our homepage and if

they scroll down, there's a place

610

: 00:32:46

where they can sign up for email

alerts so anybody can sign up to

611

: 00:32:50

get alerts of lost and found pets in

their area, and they can help match.

612

: 00:32:54

Lost and found pets themselves.

613

: 00:32:57

So that's a great way to help.

614

: 00:32:58

If they wanna get more involved, there's

a volunteer application on our site

615

: 00:33:02

if they'd like to be part of our team.

616

: 00:33:04

And of course, we're also always needing

donations and so they can go to our

617

: 00:33:09

website and make a donation as well.

618

: 00:33:12

Dixie: And before we end this call,

what one piece of advice would you

619

: 00:33:17

give to someone who has just lost their

pet and feels completely hopeless?

620

: 00:33:23

Leslie: Don't give up hope Don't panic.

621

: 00:33:25

There are people who are able

to help you get the word out.

622

: 00:33:30

Stay calm.

623

: 00:33:31

Most pets are reunited.

624

: 00:33:34

It's just so overwhelming and

terrifying when you lose your pet.

625

: 00:33:38

But take the advice on our site.

626

: 00:33:42

Take the advice of our

volunteers, do the steps.

627

: 00:33:45

There's a very good chance

you'll find your pet.

628

: 00:33:48

Dixie: And I think the stats that you

gave us with the number of pets that you

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get in a year, the reports yearly that

you get, and the number that's reunited,

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: 00:33:57

that kind of almost speaks for itself too.

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: 00:34:00

It definitely don't lose hope.

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: 00:34:02

Leslie: Absolutely.

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: 00:34:03

And don't give up.

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: 00:34:05

Most pets are found within the

first few days, but it can go on for

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: 00:34:09

weeks, months, even years sometimes.

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: 00:34:12

So yeah, never give up.

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: 00:34:14

We see some miraculous reunions.

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: 00:34:18

Dixie: Thank you so much for joining me.

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: 00:34:19

I love your passion for lost Pets,

and I'm glad we were able to have

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: 00:34:23

this conversation, and hopefully

this'll help get more pets home.

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: 00:34:27

Leslie: Yes, I hope so.

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: 00:34:28

Thank you so much.

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: 00:34:29

It was wonderful to talk to you.

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: 00:34:31

Dixie: That's all the time that

we have for today's episode.

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: 00:34:34

Thank you for listening and

we hope you join us next week.

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: 00:34:37

If you know somebody that loves animals

as much as I do, please send 'em our way.

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: 00:34:41

We would love to talk to 'em.

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: 00:34:43

If you are enjoying our show, please

consider leaving us a donation.

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: 00:34:47

A hundred percent goes to our animals.

650

: 00:34:52

Suno: Paws in

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: 00:34:57

the night Claws in the

fight Whiskers twitch and

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: 00:35:08

tails

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: 00:35:11

take flight

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: 00:35:12

They’re calling in Stories to spin

From the wild to the heart within

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: 00:35:19

Broken wings and hopeful springs

We’re the voices for these things

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: 00:35:25

animal posse hear the call.

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: 00:35:31

We stand together.

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: 00:35:33

Big and small Rescue tales We’ve

got it all Animal posse Saving

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: 00:35:47

them

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: 00:35:54

all

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: 00:35:54

The vet’s got tips The rescuer’s

grit The foster homes where love

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: 00:36:01

won’t quit From a pup in the rain to

a bird in pain , Every soul’s worth

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: 00:36:15

the

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: 00:36:18

strain

665

: 00:36:20

Animal posse

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: 00:36:27

Hear the call

667

: 00:36:35

We stand together Big

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: 00:36:40

and small Rescue tales We’ve got

it all Animal posse Saving them all

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: 00:36:49

Every collar tells a tale, every

howl a whispered wail, we rise up.

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: 00:36:56

We never

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: 00:37:01

fail.

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: 00:37:04

This

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: 00:37:06

is

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: 00:37:08

the

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: 00:37:15

bond

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: 00:37:20

The holy grail

677

: 00:37:21

Animal posse Hear the call We stand

together Big and small Rescue tales We’ve

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: 00:37:37

got it all Animal posse Saving them all

679

: 00:37:46

Every collar tells a tale Every howl

a whispered wail We rise up We never

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: 00:37:53

fail This is the bond The holy grail.

681

: 00:37:57

Song by Suno.ai