If you find a lost pet and you don't want to get involved, or you can't catch the animal, you can still help.

1. Check the lost and found ads in the newspaper to see if a pet with its description is listed.
2. Contact your county's animal control agency and report that you have seen an animal you believe to be lost. Tell them the location of the sighting and the date and time you saw the animal.
                  
   

If you find a lost pet and have it in your control, there are many ways you can help. Some things the law requires of you.

1. Report the pet to the animal control agency in the county where the pet was found. You must make an immediate report to the agency even if you would like to keep the pet. Many animal control agencies will allow you to keep the pet in your home while you look for the owner, but this report is required!
   In addition to the report, you should actively search for the owner through the ads and flier for six months. If the owner does not appear with in a month, you should license the pet in your name. If the owner does not appear in six months, and you want to keep the animal, you can contact the animal control agency to have the pet licensed in your name. The owner of the pet may claim the pet at any point during the six months waiting time.
2. Take the pet to the animal shelter in the county that is was found. This is the place where the owner will most likely come to look for his or her lost pet. It is also an opportunity for for the animal to be adopted into a home if the owner cannot be located.
   
   1. If you would like to adopt the pet, you can take the pet to the shelter and ask to adopt the pet if the owner is not located.
   2. If you would like to be a back up adopter of the pet in order to keep it from being put to sleep, explain to the staff at the shelter that if the owner is not located, and no other adoptive home is found, you would like to adopt the pet. Ask exactly what you need to do to be the "back up adopter," and follow through as instructed. You may need to fill out an adoption request and you may need to contact a shelter on a certain day. Leave all phone numbers where you can be reached! Don't leave it up to the shelter to contact you - you might need to contact them!
3. There are other steps you can take to find a pet's owner. Making the extra effort will significantly increase the likelihood that the pet's owner will be found.
   1. Take the pet to a shelter or a vet with microchip scanning capabilities.
      The pet may have a chip. This is an increasingly common way owners ID their pets.
   2. Put a found pet ad in the paper.
   3. Check the paper every day for a lost pet ad which could be the pet you have found.
   4. Look for posters with the description of the pet. Check grocery stores, schools, and other gathering spots in the area where you found the animal.
   5. Re-check every few days.
   6. Put up posters with a picture of the pet in these same places.
   7. Walk through the area where the pet was found with the pet or a picture of the pet. Ask the neighbors, mail carriers, trash collectors, etc., and leave a poster with them.
   8. Send a poster to 24 hour animal clinics. The owners may have contacted them to see if their pet had been treated in any way.
   9. If the pet is purebred, ask the local shelter if there is a "breed rescue group" many of those groups can be found on this page.

Red Flag:  In taking these steps, be aware that most people are honest and trustworthy, but a few people are dishonest or even predatory. Take all necessary steps to protect yourself and the pet from the dangerous minority. If someone claiming to be the owner contacts you to reclaim the animal, tell them that you will need to see proof that it is their pet before you will release the animal to them. Ask them to bring pictures of the pet and medical records. If they cannot provide this, refer the situation to animal control.

If you don't want to meet people in your home, suggest a public place with plenty of people around, and don't reveal your home address. Refuse any meeting or call that makes you uncomfortable. If you are at all concerned, call the animal control agency, inform them of the reason for your discomfort, and ask them to handle the situation (they have access to criminal information, including animal abuse information, and they are experienced with these situations).