Animal Care Centers of NYC help reunite lost pets with their owners

NEW YORK - Some 24,000 animals make their way to the Animal Care Centers of New York City each year, and many are pets that have been lost. 

“We reunited thousands of pets with their owners,” said Katy Hansen, Director of Marketing and Communications for ACC-NYC. “On any given day we have at least five lost pet reports.”

If police find a stray animal, they will bring it to the ACC, where a dedicated team tries to figure out where it came from. Staff will put the animal’s information on the ACC’s lost pet webpage and work with community organizations to get the word out through social media. 

“We have a whole team lost and found and work with our client services and they go about checking Craigslist, checking other websites, checking Facebook to see if there’s a match with a picture,” Hansen said.

For anyone looking to be reunited with his lost pet, time is of the essence. One an animal is brought in, if staff cannot track down its owner within 72 hours, it will be put up for adoption or sent to another local shelter. 

That is why experts say the best thing you can do is a pet owner is to make sure your cat or dog has identification and a microchip.

Finally, if you happen to find a pet you believe to be lost, you can bring them to any ACC location. To find one, visit nycacc.org.