This is how you behave correctly
Eschborn. The medium-sized dog with the black and white wavy fur has been roaming alone through the city park for a while now. He seems disoriented and is always looking for contact with walkers. Did he run away? Does he need help? In most cases the answer is: yes! With cats, the situation is not quite so clear – as outdoor cats, they are often just out and about. The animal protection organization TASSO, which runs Europe's largest free pet registry, explains how animal lovers should behave properly when an animal is lost and when it actually needs help.
“When a dog is out and about without a human companion, attentive people quickly realize that something is wrong. Fortunately, dogs roaming around alone are quickly noticed,” says Heike Wempen-Dany, head of the emergency call center at TASSO. If they are trusting and wear a TASSO badge on their collar, animal-loving finders can call the TASSO emergency call center directly and give them the number that is on the badge. Then a quick query in the TASSO database is enough to assign the lost animal to its owner. If the dog does not wear a TASSO badge, a veterinary practice or animal shelter can check whether the four-legged friend is wearing a transponder and is registered in a pet register. “In any case, it is advisable to report a found animal to our emergency call center, even if it has not yet been registered with us, for example,” says Wempen-Dany.
When does a cat need help?
Many cats are outdoor cats who have families and don't need help. Most of the time they are just on the prowl. If the cat is not obviously injured or stuck somewhere and does not look neglected and emaciated, animal-loving people should not intervene. “But if a cat keeps showing up in the garden, doesn’t want to leave and really makes itself known, responsible animal lovers can check whether the cat is missing,” says Wempen-Dany. Using the current search reports on the TASSO website, you can find out with just a few clicks whether a corresponding animal is being sought in the area. If the search is unsuccessful and the cat can be secured, the next step should be to a veterinary practice or animal shelter to check whether the animal is chipped and registered.
Animal is scared and cannot be secured
Not all dogs and cats are friendly. “If the animal is afraid, any attempt to catch it is counterproductive. The four-legged friend could put itself in even greater danger by running away headlessly,” says Wempen-Dany, emphasizing that in such a case it is all the more important to inform TASSO about the sighting of the animal. The emergency call center team can use such a sighting report to find out whether there is a corresponding search report in the region. “In the next step, we inform the animal owner about the current position of their runaway, which in turn is very helpful for further searches,” explains Wempen-Dany.
Last year, TASSO helped reunite around 96,600 animals with their people. “Without the many animal-loving and attentive people who help and care, all the rehoming would not be possible,” says Wempen-Dany.
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