As parents we can sometimes come under intense pressure from our children to get a kitten, puppy or a pony. My daughter is pushing for a dog AND a lizard this year! She’s wanted a dog for years, then she saw someone carrying a lizard around town on their shoulder, so she added a lizard to her list.
Even in this digital day and age, lost pet flyers and posters are still a vital part of any lost pet marketing.
Flyers are a laser targeted way to reach every house in a relatively cheap way. Ideally use colour flyers rather than black and white because they help to identify your pet better - unless he or she is black or white anyway.
Your dog is on the run, panic stricken. You finally find your dog some distance away, but he or she is too scared to come to you. What do you do?
First, don’t run after your dog. This could make him or her run further - and a dog can outrun you! Running after a dog can bring out a fight or flight fear response for the dog. This can have the unintended effect of making him or her more scared each time humans approach.
The success of finding any lost pet often rests on the honesty and goodwill of people who find them. Luckily, in our wonderful country of New Zealand most people are good people and they want to help reunite pets. They operate on the value of “do unto others as you would have done unto you”, taking all efforts immediately to find the owner of a lost pet. Also shelters like SPCAs and pounds operate under a seven day hold before a pet can be re-homed if unclaimed (overseas this can be as little as 48 hours).
The most important thing I want you to know if your bird is lost, is that it doesn’t mean he or she is lost forever. This firm knowledge comes from my 15 years of experience with lost birds. I’ve seen large numbers of lost birds successfully found again. So please throw away the common, yet incorrect, belief that lost birds are never found. It’s not only untrue, it’s unhelpful because it paralyses action, which vastly reduces the chances of finding your bird. Birds are usually found very quickly, most often in the first few days, so speed is of the essence to find a lost bird.
Another surprising fact is how far a flighted bird (with unclipped wings) can fly… a long way! A large parrot from Onehunga was found in Anawhata on the West Coast. That’s about 35 km east in a straight line as the crow (or parrot in this case) flies.