Local Pet Watch
What is the Local Pet Watch scheme?
Local Pet Watch is the new name for what we previously referred to as our Volunteer Network. It's a little bit like Neighbourhood Watch - but for animals.
Members of Local Pet Watch form the basis of the Animal Finders' system. When a pet is reported as missing, we automatically send all the information out to Local Pet Watch members who live nearby.
What do Local Pet Watch members do?
The alerts we send to Local Pet Watch members contain the information about the missing pet - including a photo and the last known location. If we've sent the alert via email, we also attach a poster.
Some Local Pet Watch members are very proactive and will print out the posters and put them up around the local area on our behalf. Some will go out looking for the missing pets and some will simply just keep an eye out as they go about their daily business.
We know it's a busy world and time is valuable, so what ever people can do for us - we greatly appreciate it!
How do you know who to notify?
When you register with Local Pet Watch, we ask you to give us your postcode and place a marker on a map to show us where you live. We convert your location into latitude and longitude co-ordinates. In addition to your home location, you can also add in other places where you might be on a regular basis. Some of our members have given us their favourite dog walking spot and their place of work. One member has even plotted their entire journey to work!
So, when somebody reports their missing pet, they too place a marker on the map to show it's last known location. Again, we convert this into geographic co-ordinates. Our system finds all the Local Pet Watch members who live within a certain radius of this location. We then send out an alert to these members by email, text message or both - depending on their preferences.
And, don't forget about the favourite dog walks or the route to the office! All these additional locations are taken into account when working out who to send our notifications to.
What about stolen pets?
When a pet is stolen, we treat it slightly differently. If a cat wanders off - it's likely to be within a mile or so of it's home. In the case of a stolen dog or a stolen cat we know that it's likely to be moved out of the area very quickly.
In these cases, we'll notify all the Local Pet Watch members regardless of their location.
I run a lost and found service. Can I get access to the Local Pet Watch members?
Yes. If you operate a lost and found service for pets and you'd like to use our system to send out alerts to Local Pet Watch members then all you have to do is create a report using our site. We'll handle the rest.
Register yourself on our system, then contact us to tell us your username and a bit about your organisation. We'll add your organisation in to our Official Alert Network, then associate your account with your organisation. All of your reports will then be attributed to your organisation and all your organisation details will be shown on the reports you log.
