Posted by Jane on August 21, 1998 at 12:44:00:
Hello. I have a rather long post here, but I would really appreciate it if you
would take the time to read it. It is really important to all pet owners.
Kathy “Kat” Albrecht has founded an organization called the National
Center for Missing Pets. She is a police officer/Bloodhound handler
who has worked her dogs for years to search for criminals, missing
persons & physical evidence. Last year she trained her retired evidence
search dog (Weimaraner) to search for missing pets. You can read about
their successful finds & our search work on our website at
www.missingpet.org.
Kat discovered that the same techniques that are used in law
enforcement to investigate criminal cases and to conduct search & rescue
operations could successfully be used to find missing pets. For example, they
are using a forensic hair examiner who is comparing tufts of fur found at
the site of a coyote kill with cat fur they collected from the bed of a
missing cat. This is to make a positive identification so the pet owner can
have closure (the details of this case are also on our website).
Thus she founded the National Center For Missing Pets (NCMP) an
organization that is developing standards and certification for Missing Pet
Investigators. They will also train & certify pet search & rescue (PET-SAR)
dogs just as CCI and Guide Dogs For The Blind train and certify service &
guide dogs. One investigative tool that is used to find missing
people is studies that have been done on "lost person behavior."
Backpackers, berry pickers & hunters can all three be missing in the woods
but all three do distinctly different yet typical things when they become
lost. The NCMP wants to research "lost pet behavior." Their preliminary
studies show that indoor cats that escape outdoors will be found within a 3
house radius 90% of the time, hiding & afraid. But how far will a dog the
size of a Bull Mastiff travel in an 8 hour period compared to a dog the size
of a Bulldog? Does the size matter or is it the breed? Will a sitehound
travel further (in pursuit of prey) than a husky (known to run non-stop)?
Or is it what motivates the dog...such as an intact male dog that is seeking
a female in heat vs. a dog frightened by fireworks that just continues to
run? They are currently working on obtaining funding to conduct extensive
research in this area.
You can help us with some preliminary work by e-mailing your
lost/found pet stories. I would be also glad to hear about any breeds (mixed
included) and species (cats, snakes, ferrets, etc.).
If you have ever lost a pet AND LATER FOUND the pet, please
email to BittyBull@aol.com and tell me: 1. Species/Breed
2. Sex/Age/Intact or Fixed
3. Age of Pet (at time of disappearance)
4. Was the pet missing from it's own home? If so, how
long had the pet lived there (i.e. was it in unfamiliar
territory?)
5. How long was the pet missing
6. How far from home was the pet found
7. What was the key to getting your pet back (i.e. flyers,
newspaper ad, SPCA, physical search, psychic, etc.)
8. What motivated your pet to leave (i.e. gate was open so
he wandered, intact male, fireworks, just moved to new
home, etc.).
We are also working with a forensic lab to conduct a Forensic Animal
Hair Collection Project. The forensic hair examiner working for our
organization wants to study hair fibers from different breeds to learn the
differences and to store the hair fibers for future hair comparison cases.
This would require you to pull hair fibers from specified areas of your pet
and mail them along with two photographs. Kat worked a search last year for a
missing long hair dachsaund. They found coyotoe scat that had hair fibers but
they had no way of proving that the dog had been consumed by the coyote. They
hope to now have the technology in place for missing pet investigations.
Our next work will be in putting DNA technology in place for our
investigations as well. If you are interested in helping in the forensic
hair project or want more details about it, please email Kat (kats@missingpet.org )
with your name & SNAIL MAIL address. We will mail you the information
sometime next month when we launch the project.
I look forward to hearing your stories of your cutey pies!! BTW, we
are grass roots, struggling non-profit. If any clubs are ever
looking for a charity to give show proceeds to, we would appreciate any
support. Thank you for your participation.
Jane
On Line Assistant to the Executive Director
Kathy "Kat" Albrecht
Executive Director
National Center For Missing Pets
*Exciting Search & Rescue Stories *Tips on Finding Lost Pets *Forensic
Applications To Missing Pet Investigations *Pet Search & Rescue *If You Own
A Pet, Come Visit Us!
http://www.missingpet.org