Full Notification

On June 5^th around 5 pm, one of Berkeley’s seniors was walking with her dog “Rex” on the 1600 block of University Avenue.  She decided to stop inside a store, but realized that she could not bring Rex inside. She decided to tie Rex in front of the store while she briefly shopped inside.  When she returned for Rex, she discovered that he was gone—including the leash.  When she could not find Rex in the area, she called the Police Department for assistance.
 
When the officer met with Rex’s owner, she was able to provide us with a description of the dog (wire haired fox terrier) as well as a photograph of Rex.  With that information, the officer was able to create/distribute a flyer to other officers to Be-On-The-Lookout for Rex.
 
While on patrol this morning, Officer Ordaz was patrolling the parking lots of the Tom Bates Regional Sports Complex.  In one of the lots, Officer Ordaz spotted a parked car with a small dog sitting in the driver seat.  Officer Ordaz remembered seeing the flyer about the stolen/missing dog from the day before.  When Officer Ordaz looked at the flyer again, the dog looked like Rex.  Still unsure, Officer Ordaz decided to gesture for the dog to the sit-up—where he was then able to see the dog collar engraved “Rex.”
 
Officer Ordaz later discovered that the car’s owner worked nearby and that his daughters spotted Rex wandering the parking lot and that they begged him to call out for him.  When the car owner whistled for Rex, Rex ran over to him and he planned to call the phone number on the tag when he got off work.
 
This story had a happy ending, but some stories do not.  The Berkeley Police Department encourages the public to notify Animal Care Services if they see pets wandering.  Berkeley Animal Care Services is located at 1 Bolivar Drive and you may contact them by calling 510-981-6600.
 
If you are looking for a lost pet (from the Animal Care Services website):                                    

• Check the internet:  www.petharbor.com.

• Visit the shelter to see if you pet has been found.  If your animal is not at the shelter, fill out a "lost report" to be kept on file.

• Return to the shelter every 2 or 3 days to look for your pet.

• Check other local animal shelters and complete their lost report forms:  Oakland Animal Control - (510) 535-5603; Contra Costa County (Pinole) - (510) 374-3966.

• Place a "Lost" ad in your local newspaper.

• Check the local newspaper for "Found" ads.

• Make up flyers, preferably featuring a photo of the pet, with as accurate a description of the pet as possible;

• Notify neighbors of your lost pet. Put flyers under their doormats, not in their mailboxes (it's a violation of federal law) or speak to them in person.

• Post notices at local businesses.

• If the pet is a cat, be certain to look in crawl spaces of buildings, garages, storage sheds.  Cats often get locked into places where they've gone to explore or hide, so call for the cat during a time of day when a response from the cat will be heard.

• EXTREMELY IMPORTANT - Don't wait around for someone else to find your pet and report it to you.  You must look for yourself - diligently.

• And finally, unneutered cats and dogs can roam for miles, so the search will have to cover a broader area than for altered animals - another reason to have pets spayed/neutered.

• If you have found a pet, please report it to Animal Services with as accurate description as possible.