Thanks to American Dog Rescue, Scarlet is alive today!

The strategies deployed in locating missing animals transcends all international borders. Time always works against dog owners who have lost their pet.

While traveling to Brazil this week American Dog Rescue Founder Arthur Benjamin makes an effort to provide local support and advice to the countries he visits; it’s all about maximizing time and resources and increasing the odds of recovery.

“Americans have the luxury of having great pet locator services like FindToto.com and microchip technology in nearly every shelter or veterinarian hospital,” said Benjamin. “Unfortunately, other countries have less sophisticated means of finding the family pet, and are less likely to use social media or outdoor signs to find their animal quickly.

While visiting São Paulo on business, Benjamin’s advice resonated well when a woman lost her pet and used Facebook as a means of successfully locating her dog.

“It was quite a rewarding experience to see what you preach result in a positive outcome,” he said.

I was meeting with colleagues on a variety of initiatives and within minutes of posting her message on Facebook, the woman was able to locate her four-legged friend in an adjoins neighborhood.

Benjamin’s says that the first 12 hours are the most critical and can often result in a 75-85% recovery rate. After 24 hours, the recovery rates drops to 60%, and after 72% it can go as low as 30%. While we have recovered animals weeks later, this phenomenon is rare.

“Where the animal lives also plays an important role in their speed of recovery,” says Benjamin. Highly populated urban areas have far lower success rates than rural or suburban areas.

A family pet is lost every two seconds. Over 10 million pets are lost each year. One out of three pets is lost during their lifetimes. One in ten family pets is found.  (National Council of Pet Population Study and Policy and National Humane Society)

Below is the experience Arthur witnessed in Brazil.

Lost and Found through Facebook in Brazil.