When the Unthinkable Happens, New “Petco Love Lost” Database Uses Breakthrough Facial Recognition Technology to Find Missing Cats and Dogs In North Texas
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX (August 20, 2021) – Texas Coalition for Animal Protection (TCAP) is proudly joining forces with Petco Love, a national non-profit working to lead and inspire change for animals and animal welfare groups across the country. The two nonprofits are joined together in a shared mission to help reunite lost pets with their families should they ever go missing. According to industry statistics, sadly, one in every three pets will go missing in their lifetime.
Petco Love Lost is a new, searchable national database that uses patented facial recognition technology to make finding lost pets quicker and easier. This simple-to-use tool will be easily accessible to participating animal organizations nationwide, as well as any pet parent or person who finds a lost pet. Uploaded photos of a missing dog or cat are immediately scanned to determine whether the lost pet is at a participating shelter or with a neighbor in the community.
“An integral part of our mission at TCAP to end pet overpopulation and euthanasia in North Texas Shelters is to keep pets and their families together,” said Stacey Schumacher, TCAP Executive Director. “A key part of that mission is ensuring that pet parents have the resources and tools necessary to ID their pet should their pet get lost and end up at an area shelter. TCAP already provides low-cost ID tags and microchips, but our partnership with Petco Love Lost’s innovative technology will take a pet owner’s ability to find their lost pet a step further.”
“In encouraging TCAP clients to register their pets for free on Petco Love Lost, we will be providing another avenue for identification of lost pets to pet owners for whom TCAP’s low-cost microchipping services may still be out of reach,” Schumacher added.
“We know that one in three pets goes missing in their lifetime, an estimated 10 million pets each year, and we’re not ok with that,” said President of Petco Love, Susanne Kogut. “That gives us 10 million reasons why we created Petco Love Lost, because we believe nothing is more important than keeping people and pets together for a lifetime of love. Together with TCAP, our goal is to keep pets where they belong – at home.”
To learn more about TCAP, visit texasforthem.org and follow TCAP on Facebook and Twitter @TCforAP and on Instagram at @TCAPSpayNeuter. If you’ve lost or found a pet, Petco Love Lost is here to help get them home. Visit petcolovelost.org or join the conversation @PetcoLoveLost on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter via hashtags #PetcoLoveLost and #LoveandFound.
About TCAP
Texas Coalition for Animal Protection is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that works to end pet overpopulation and improve community animal welfare. TCAP accomplishes this goal by making affordable, high-quality preventative services available to Texas pet owners. Since 2002, TCAP has provided more than 502,419 spays and neuters and vaccinated more than 1,108,637 North Texas pets against the deadly rabies virus.
About Petco Love
Petco Love is a nonprofit changing lives by making communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we’ve empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $300 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We’ve helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Today, our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Join us. Visit petcolove.org or follow at Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we’re leading every day.