Return To Home Challenge

Updated 9/15 at 12:05pm - Recording is now available


Join us for the second huddle of the Return to Home challenge today Wednesday, September 14 at 12pm PT/3pm ET! The huddle will consist of a 20-minute presentation followed by a 30 minute Q&A.

Holly Reycraft (Castle of Dreams Animal Rescue Inc.), @Aldwin Roman CAWA (Charleston Animal Society) and Stefani Buzzard (Contra Costa County Animal Services) will be presenting on the following Return to Home practices:

3. Return to Home polices and lost/found techniques are marketed to the community

• Website contains content about importance of microchipping and registration,
  including information about checking registration bi-annually
• Website contains content about how to find lost animals
• Website contains content about how to report lost and found animals
• Website contains report/list of lost and found animals (or posted to social media
  if unable to do so on website)
• Magnets and business cards with info for lost animals are distributed to the
  community
• Animals used in organization's marketing and communications have visible
  identification (collar/tags)
• Marketing campaigns are launched around Return to Home as the best outcome
  for the animal

6. Technology is used to help reunite pets and owners

• Skip-tracing subscriptions help locate people who have moved or changed phone
  numbers
• Social media is searched for lost pet posts
• Owners are called, texted, emailed, contacted via social media or visited in
  person
• Adoptimize software is used to create clear, accurate photos of lost pets to
  increase chances of reunions
• Administrators of the local lost and found pet pages are partners in reunification
• Maximize use of Petco Love Lost to help reunite pets and owners​​

Register now for all challenge Zoom huddles: https://maddies.fund/RTHChallengeRegistration

If you're unable to join us live today, the recording will be uploaded to this thread!


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Charlotte Otero
Community Strategist at Maddie's Fund
she/her
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Thank you Maddie's for giving me the opportunity to speak about Petco Love Lost, a free national registry for lost and found pets that uses facial recognition technology to reunite pets with the owners. The more shelters sign up and the more the community is educated on this amazing FREE tool the more animals get back home faster.

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Aldwin Roman
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Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this new technology! I hope more shelters can make the switch from paper Lost and Found reporting to online reporting, allowing for instant access by the public and a more efficient and automated notification system. I was happy to also speak to our use of QR codes to direct traffic to our website and our partnership with PetHub.com, an interactive ID tag that has replaced our engraved license tags, and allows pet owners to create a free pet profile with their contact info, or opt-in to premium options that include perks like Found Pet GPS tracking that will alert a pet owner not only WHEN a tag's QR code  is scanned, but WHERE a tag QR code was scanned! Keep up the great work!

Stefani Buzzard

Contra Costa Animal Services

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Stefani buzzard
Volunteer Coordinator
Contra Costa Animal Services
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This is some very cool technology! I am going to do some research here because if we can get pet owners tools that are more effective, they're going to be better set up for success when the unimaginable happens!

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Dyanna Uchiek
Portsmouth Humane Society
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-17-2022 03:42 PM
From: Stefani buzzard
Subject: Huddle #2 - Return to home polices & lost/found techniques are marketed to the community and technology is used to reunite pets and owners

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share this new technology! I hope more shelters can make the switch from paper Lost and Found reporting to online reporting, allowing for instant access by the public and a more efficient and automated notification system. I was happy to also speak to our use of QR codes to direct traffic to our website and our partnership with PetHub.com, an interactive ID tag that has replaced our engraved license tags, and allows pet owners to create a free pet profile with their contact info, or opt-in to premium options that include perks like Found Pet GPS tracking that will alert a pet owner not only WHEN a tag's QR code  is scanned, but WHERE a tag QR code was scanned! Keep up the great work!

Stefani Buzzard

Contra Costa Animal Services

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Stefani buzzard
Volunteer Coordinator
Contra Costa Animal Services
------------------------------

Thank you for having me present in the  huddle this year! Also, thank you for all the questions, and for those who also reached out to me after the meeting. I wish you all the best of luck in the rigorous journey to increasing your RTH numbers.

Here is the slide deck (with minimal notes, apologies)
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yf3TMLcIDMuVosToEE4tC1WeIAxgolOBFNT8Cm8zXZs/edit?usp=sharing

Attached a pdf version of the slide deck if you can't view the google link, and the two legal agreements that finder-fosters must sign (the medical agreement is specifically for dog fosters only).

Here is a link to the page that we have all finder-fosters fill out to register: https://www.oaklandanimalservices.org/finder-foster-program/

Best,

Scotty Graham

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Scotty Graham
Friends of Oakland Animal Services
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