Petco Love celebrates 1 year of reuniting lost pets with owners, issues industry challenge

Image provided by Petco Love

National nonprofit Petco Love is celebrating the first anniversary of its signature lost and found initiative, Petco Love Lost. The national database simplifies and shortens the lost pet search by using just one photo of a pet. According to Petco Love, facial recognition technology enables the national database—populated by more than 1,800 shelter locations—to identify and bring home these lost pets.¹

Last week at one of the animal welfare industry’s largest conferences, national nonprofit leader Petco Love issued an industry challenge for animal shelters to reunite more than 50% of stray animal intake by 2024. Petco Love Lost said in a press release that it currently estimates fewer than 32% of lost pets who enter shelters make it back home in the US.

“It’s tragic for both the animal and its family when a pet goes missing,” said Petco Love president Susanne Kogut. “And Petco Love understands that when the unthinkable happens, families need help—quickly.” She adds, “Across the animal welfare sheltering industry in the past 10 years, there has been little improvement in the number of lost pets in shelters reunited with their families, and that is unacceptable. We can simplify the search by working together on a single platform that connects shelters, pet parents, and neighbors. Pets, like Fallon, are family and deserve our best efforts to bring them back home. We believe that together, we can do better.”

Over the last year, the searchable database has grown to include more than 1,800 shelters and rescues in cities, and rural areas across the US using facial recognition technology to help reunite lost pets with their families. In addition, a Petco Love Lost news released marked the following milestones achieved by the organization¹:

• Reuniting more than 1,000 pets a month
• Searchable database has reached more than 100,000 found pets from shelter partners and users
• Growth of industry support and collaboration from partners such as Tractive, 24PetWatch, HABRI and more
• Improved user experience
• Additional educational content on steps to take if your pet is lost
• Seamless sharing of lost pet posters across social platforms and email
• 96% of users recommend Petco Love Lost

Reference

Petco Love celebrates one year of doing the reunite thing for pets; issues industry challenge ahead of National Lost Dog and Cat Day. News release. Petco Love. April 25, 2022.