Lewis & Clark Humane Society

Please follow these steps:

• Call the Shelter at 442-1660 and report your pet missing.   Do not wait a few days and see if the pet shows up first. After 72 hours animals may be placed or euthanized (if deemed unadoptable based on health and/or behavior.)   Many an owner has come to the shelter only to find their pet went to a new home or worse.   Adoptions are final.   New adoptees of unclaimed strays will not be contacted to return a pet if the real owner shows up.   As a general rule, once your pet has been missing overnight please call the shelter as soon as possible.

• Go to the shelter and look at all the animals.   It is not possible in many cases to confirm a pets identity over the phone because no two people describe an animal the same way.   Be sure to tell a staff member the purpose of your visit because sick or injured animals may be at a vet clinic or in a different room not visible to the general public.   Dogs may also be outside on break in the dog runs.   If your pet is not there, make sure you fill out a lost pet report at the desk if you have not already done so.   We will notify you as soon as anyone calls or brings in any possible match.   After your initial visit, we recommend shelter visits 2 to 3 times a week in order to view all strays received or check the pictures and daily admissions daily via this site.   Most pets are found within the first week but reunions may occur at any time.   Our longest term dog reunion is 4 months although we know of a two year reunion that occured in Helena.   Our longest term cat reunion is 18 months.   Our statistics show 90% of the lost dogs and 60% of the lost cats reported to the Lewis and Clark Humane Society will be found.   Be patient. Don't give up!

• Call the Independent Record at 447-4000 and ask for the Classified Department or fax your lost report to the IR at 447-4052.   They will run a free 3 day ad.   Calls received before 3:00 PM are printed in the next days paper.   Check the lost and found column in the newspaper every day for a list of all new strays at the shelter.

• Place a free ad in the Adit -- call 443-3690.

• Posting pictures of your pet at the Mini-Marts, telephone poles, grocery stores, and mailboxes closest to the location the animal was lost are quite successful.

• We encourage you to confirm with us twice a week for a few weeks, then weekly for up to 3 months that your pet is still missing.   Our answering machine is on during the evening for your convenience or you may email us via this site.   Please give both the pet's name and your name when you call or write in case we have more than one animal with the same name or in case the person who called in the lost report has a different name than you. We keep lost pets on our active list for 3 months, or even longer if you request.

It is equally important to notify us when your pet is found.   We take 75-100 lost reports a month and doing follow-up phone calls is extremely time consuming for volunteers.   When people forget or don't answer our follow-up calls, this doubles the time factor.   Please be considerate of our volunteers time.

Once your pet is safely home please take the proper precautions to prevent a recurrence.   All dogs and cats need a collar with current i.d.   Both can be purchased at the shelter.   Collars without tags won't help us find you.   A rabies tag alone is often insufficient also, i.e. if your vet clinic is closed, we won't be able to access the owner information until the next working day.   The same applies to a city license tag.   Also many vet clinics do not keep owner information on file once the tag is outdated.   Many pets with collars and/or rabies tags only are unable to be returned to owners.   Ask your vet about microchipping.

Good luck. If we can be of further assistance, please call us at 442-1660