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Lost & Found Pets Have Help On Facebook OUR YUCAIPA | JULY 2016 11 By Natalie Palmer Dana Hays wishes she had a huge farm where all the lost pets of Yucaipa could roam happily until they return home. Until she gets that farm, she does the next best thing, she runs the Lost Pets Yucaipa/Calimesa Facebook page that helps hundreds of lost pets each month find their owners. Hays started the page in July of 2013, when she noticed the daily posting of lost and found pets on other Facebook pages. "I thought, we could have a whole page of posts like this," said Hays, "then we could get them home as fast as possible." So she created the group and it immediately took off. Thousands of Yucaipans were ready and willing to help lost pets find their way home. The page currently has 3,500 members, and Hays said she approves at least 20 more members a day. "Yucaipa is still a small enough town that this really works. Most pets are back home in an hour or so," said Hays. "It's great to see everyone be so neighborly and helpful." Administrating the popular page is a big job, and Hays first recruited her mom and aunt to help. She recently added three additional admins for the page, Marilyn Ampolilla, Tricia Sandoval, and Krystal Hedjazi. The four women say they spend countless hours on Facebook, helping to coordinate lost pet posts with found pet posts and contacting the posters to figure out how to get the animals back to their owners. And Ampolilla takes it a step further. Every day without fail she looks through Pet Harbor, the website that county shelters use to log animals they have collected to see if any of Yucaipa's pets have ended up there. And quite often, they have. In fact, the women say it's very important to get found pets registered with Pet Harbor immediately. "The first thing owners do when they lose a pet is check the shelters," said Ampolilla. "Get a picture and put the information on Pet Harbor as quickly as you can, even if you are going to house the pet yourself for a few days." Sandoval pointed out that some people are not on Facebook, so taking the old fashioned steps to get a pet home is still important as well. "Put up those posters with a picture, and if you find a pet, stake a poster in your front yard announcing you've found a pet and to inquire within. Often times the owners will be driving around looking, and if they see that poster in your yard they can stop and identify their pet." And don't forget to take found dogs to be scanned for a microchip. Any vet or the Yucaipa Animal Placement Society (YAPS) will scan found dogs for free and the microchip company will contact the owner immediately. While microchips can be helpful, the women pointed out that they don't always work because owners fail to register the chips, contact information is outdated, or owners simply can't be reached. The Facebook page seems to be most effective for getting pets home, they said. "People recognize their neighbor's pets, and we even get to know the repeat offenders and can call their owners right up," said Hays. Hays tells the story of Patchez, a found dog that was posted on the Facebook page (photo on page 15). The dog had already been turned over to the Devore Shelter and had two families waiting to adopt it. Luckily Patchez was recognized by the owner's groomer. She knew Patchez was very loved by her elderly owner. The groomer, unable to contact the owner, started calling local hospitals until locating Patchez's owner. Thankfully, she was able to foster the dog until the owner came home from the hospital. "It's scary to think if we didn't have this page that this lady might have lost her beloved dog while she was in the hospital," Hays said. Other success stories include Willow (photo on page 12), a lab/pit mix who along with her sibling dog were abandoned at Wildwood Canyon Park in December. Several members of the Facebook page started reporting seeing the two dogs who were at first sitting in a parking spot, presumably looking for their owners. The dogs then disappeared for a time, and unfortunately, one of them was struck by a car and killed on Wildwood Canyon Road. Willow, also hit by the car, ran off and hid. Acting on a tip from a Facebook group member saying a dog was spotted back in the park, Ampolilla and Hays searched into the night, finally finding Willow in the pitch black whimpering under a tree in an embankment. Ampolilla took Willow to the vet and kept her for two weeks while her broken leg healed. She eventually found her a forever home through the Labs And More rescue group out of San Diego. "This is what makes it awesome, there are so many people that love animals here and are willing to help," said Hays. And then theres Hedjazi. "I'm the pug lady," she laughs. Hedjazi has four pugs and has become the go- to person for anything pug related, she said. Hedjazi recently took in a pug with an eye infection after its owner posted on the page that he couldn't afford to get the dog to the vet. Hedjazi got him the medical care he needed, nursed him back to health, and returned him to his owner. Facebook members even kicked in half of Hedjazi's costs. Hays said she's constantly amazed at member's willingness to help. Members give food, donate to vet bills, buy and give needed items for pets and run out and search if a pet is posted lost in their area. In addition to dogs, over the years countless cats have been returned and even turtles, chickens, bunnies and goats have found their way home thanks to the caring bunch of members on the Facebook page. "It's Yucaipa, and we are so lucky here to have so many people who are willing to help out," Hays said. LOST or FOUND ANIMAL? Post info and photo on Facebook.com/ lost pets Yucaipa/Calimesa. Have the animal scanned for a microchip at any local vet office or YAPS. Contact local shelters and inform them that you have found the animal — they aren't going to make you surrender the animal, so don't avoid calling them. Owners often look at shelters first, so give them identifying information and your contact information. You should also register the animal as found on www.petharbor.com, this is the site the shelters use and they tell people to look there if they are missing an animal Make good old-fashioned signs to tape around the area. If you've found a dog, stake a large poster in your yard announcing you've found a dog and to inquire within. If you've lost a pet go to the shelters yourself. Most animals are posted on the website, but not all, so it's better to go check in person. Redlands Animal Shelter, 504 N. Kansas St., Redlands CA 92373. (909) 798- 7644. Hours: Tuesday-Friday 10 am- 5 pm; Saturday 10 am - 4 pm; Closed Sunday & Monday. San Bernardino City Shelter, 333 Chandler Place, San Bernardino, CA 92408. (909) 384-1304. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 am - 5 pm Closed Sunday & Monday. YAPS information on page 19.

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