The City of Rancho Santa Margarita reminds you to report all lost or found pets immediately to the Mission Viejo Animal Services Center.
If your pet was suddenly missing, what would you do? After
searching your neighborhood to no avail, would you call your local animal
shelter? That is the best thing to do.
One of the primary factors that the City Council considered when contracting with Mission Viejo Animal Services Center is that one of their top
priorities is finding lost and stray animals and taking them to the shelter
where they’ll be safe until reunited with their owners. However, the
center has noticed a recent trend where “Good Samaritans” are finding and
holding on to animals rather than turning them over to the Mission Viejo Animal
Services Center. To their credit, these Good Samaritans often post photos
and information on social media, but pet owners may never visit those sites or
even think of locating their lost pet this way.
While keeping the lost animal and relying on social media sites may seem like the best bet for a found
pet, the truth is doing so makes the chances of reuniting the animal with its
family much more difficult. When a
frantic pet owner is looking for his or her lost family pet, the first thing
that person often does is call or visit the shelter to check if the pet is here
and provide contact information for when it is
found. At the time of their visit, pet owners are given the
shelter website information and are asked to check it daily.
To avoid private parties from
holding on to a beloved pet, local ordinance requires that “no person shall,
without consent of the owner, hold or retain possession of any animal for more
than 24 hours without first reporting the possession of such animal to the
director, giving his name and address and true description of the animal, and
then surrendering such animal to the shelter upon demand.” Animals
are also considered personal property by the state of California - and it can be considered theft if a Good Samaritan holds
on to a lost pet and does not do whatever is necessary to find and return the
pet to its owner.
When a stray animal arrives at the Mission Viejo Animal
Services Center, the animal is immediately checked for a dog license, scanned
for a microchip, and its general overall health is
assessed in case the animal is injured. The facility is a
no-kill/pro-humane animal shelter, which means if animals are not reunited with their owners, they become
available for adoption. Animals are only
euthanized if they have a history of aggression and are a threat to
public safety or irredeemably suffering from a medical condition that is not
treatable. Staff and volunteers ensure each animal that enters the
shelter receives everything it needs to remain healthy and happy during its
short stay.
Please help lost pets in the best way possible by placing
them in the care of the Mission Viejo Animal Services Center. For
more information, call (949) 470-3045.