If Your Pet Gets Lost, Can He Find You? Did you know that as far back as 2,700 BC ancient Egyptians marked their livestock with fire-heated marks to identify ownership? The ancient Romans sometimes used symbols for brands that were chosen as part of a magic spell aimed at protecting animals from harm. 
Throughout history, livestock owners have found ways to identify their animals and prove ownership. In addition to the various types of branding, other ways to ensure the unique identity of an animal include: ear tags, nose rings, collars, leg or arm bands, ear notching, toe clipping and tattooing. Some of these techniques are invasive and may injure the animal or alter its behavior. There has been a constant effort to develop more humane means of identifying animals. Most recently biologists have developed some high-tech ways to identify individual animals using minimal physical interference. Like fingerprints and dental records in humans, animals have unique characteristics that allow scientists to accurately tell one from another. You may already know that Zebras have unique configuration of stripes and whale flukes have distinct markings that allow observers to recognize individual whales at sea. Scientists have discovered that rodents have unique patterns of blood vessels in their ears that can be photographed and then matched to the animal for tracking purposes. All of these high-tech means of animal identification and tracking are still in their infancy, but in time will become the preferred method to allow researchers and animal owners to track animals and prove ownership. As you can see, the ability to identify an animal whether for research, tracking or proof of ownership has always been important. Statistics show that 1 in 3 pets get lost during their lifetime and, without some form of identification, 99% of them are never reunited with their families. When Esther Pratt Nowell started PAWS, she insisted that every dog rescued be tattooed. Today the preferred method of identification is the use of microchips and all cats in our care are microchipped before adoption. A microchip is a tiny device (about the size of a grain of rice) that is implanted just under the cat's skin. Each chip contains a unique code to identify the pet. This information is stored in large databases that are maintained by the various microchip companies. The data can be read with a special scanning device and used to locate the lost pet's owner using the owner’s contact information, which is stored in the company’s database. Please note that microchips are not GPS devices and can not locate a wandering pet. Therefore, it is important that you notify your microchip vendor if you relocate or change your contact information. Microchips are a humane, relatively inexpensive way of identifying a lost cat and returning it to its owner. Recently, PAWS has rescued several cats that did not have microchips. In spite of our efforts to try to locate their owners, most of them were not reunited. When a rescued cat has a microchip, the chances of finding the owner is greatly increased. Here is the story of one such rescue: How Ryloth (aka Hope) Found Her Way Home
Nearly a year later in August, 2020, PAWS received a call from a woman who had recently moved to Stoneham. She had been feeding a friendly cat hanging about her backyard. Checking with the neighbors, no one knew this girl, so this Good Samaritan brought her into her home for safekeeping. She wanted to bring her somewhere that she could be scanned for a microchip and get a general health checkup. When she contacted a local vet, they referred her to PAWS for assistance in identifying a potential owner. Nancy, our Intake Coordinator, went to the home and scanned this kitty for a microchip. Not only was a chip found, but it revealed that this sweet girl was the missing Hope! PAWS immediately contacted Hope’s family who lived less than a quarter of a mile away. Hope was reunited with her parents and her feline sister, Jeddah, with whom she was adopted as part of a pair from PAWS in December, 2018. "If your pet is not microchipped, please consider doing so. It is a quick and painless procedure, the worth of which is invaluable in reuniting pets and their people when lost and found again. And, if your pet does go missing, never give up hope that one day they may return!" - Kathleen Bradley, Facebook For more information about past and present forms of animal identication, see:
|
In late August, 2019, a former PAWS cat (Ryloth—now Hope) slipped out of her forever home in the Greenwood area of Wakefield. In spite of many sightings, trapping attempts and searches for Hope, she was not found.