HAVE YOU LOST YOUR PET?        

Animals picked up stray throughout Allen County are delivered to the city shelter for reclaim by city and county residents. The shelter accepts cash, checks, Visa or MasterCard for reclaim fees.

If an animal is wearing identification or a microchip is found during scanning, attempts will be made immediately to contact owners. In many cases, an Animal Control Officer can return a pet directly to the owner's home without bringing it into the shelter. Since collars can be removed and microchips can be missed, you should still look for your pet at the shelter.  

Click the dog picture for a list of animals that have been found and brought to our shelter. The list is not guaranteed to be complete and therefore should not be used in place of walking through our kennels.  

Found animals are not available for adoption because they are presumed owned. Only those animals listed on the pet adoption pages are adoptable. Any pictures that appear on the found pages are animals that were not claimed and have been moved into our adoption program after their legal holding period. Please check pet adoptions daily for updates.  

The fee paid to claim an animal from the shelter can be applied towards the cost of having the dog or cat spayed or neutered. Please plan to visit the shelter to search for your lost pet. Only you will be able to possitively identify your pet if it is not wearing traceable identification. Upon your visit we will also review reports of animals that have been found and are being held in homes.

Have you moved?  Given an animal away?  Received your pet with the previous owner's identification on?  All these situations are everyday occurrences here and result in improper owner identification. Please keep your pet's information current.

The department holds a stray animal for a minimum of three business days; the first day does not count. Weekends and holidays are not considered in the count. For example, if your pet is picked up on a Wednesday, it will be available for reclaim until 5:30pm on Monday. At that time, the city owns the animal and may then evaluate it for the adoption program. The only alternative, if adoption is not an option, is euthanasia, so we hope owners will take the time to look for their pets.

Have You Found A Stray Animal? 

There are several options when finding a stray animal

• Bring the animal into the shelter. After hours night depositories are also available.

• Have an Officer pick up the animal for owner identification at the shelter.

• Hold the animal in your home after filing a found report with the shelter.

A found animal must be reported to the department, someone may be looking for their lost pet. Anyone finding a stray may hold the animal in their home after filing the report as owners looking for lost pets go through these reports each time they visit the shelter. The animal should be brought into the shelter at some point to be scanned for a microchip, but may continue to be held by the finder as long as a report is on file. After thirty days from the filing the found report, if the owner does not claim the animal, the finder becomes legal owner of the animal. The animal must also be presented to the shelter for microchip scanning prior to legal ownership.

How Long Do We Hold Animals? 

• An animal turned in by its owner is immediately the property of the city and may go into the adoption program pending suitability and space, or may be humanely euthanized.

• A stray animal is held by the department for a minimum of three business days, the first day does not count. Weekends and holidays are not considered in the count. For example, if your pet is picked up on a Wednesday, it will be available for reclaim until 5:30PM on Monday. At that time, the city owns the animal and may then evaluate it for the adoption program. The only alternative if adoption is not an option is euthanasia, so we hope owners will take the time to look for their pets.

• If animals are wearing identification, owners are notified immediately and when possible, pets are returned directly to their homes.

• Adoption animals have no holding time frame placed upon them. As long as they stay socially and medically healthy, they may stay in the program.

• An injured stray animal will be medically evaluated and may be euthanized to prevent further suffering prior to the end of the legal holding period according to the city ordinance.