Jul 3, 2009 2:12 am US/Eastern
New Phone Service Helps To Track Lost Pets
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
More than five million family pets are reported lost or stolen each year, and the experience can often be heartbreaking.
So when a 2-year-old dog named Mikey went missing from his owner Gina Nagel's Long Island backyard in May, she pulled out all the stops.
"I went to the pound, we made up signs, we went on Craiglist and called all the vets and (found) nothing," Nagel said. "I've had boyfriends that I didn't miss as much."
But the loss of a pet does not always have to end in tragedy.
Pet ownership has spawned a billion-dollar pet finding industry, with one option for owners being the pet microchip. This is essentially a permanent form of identification embedded in the animal's coat which then enables it to be tracked down with the use of locating websites.
Pet owners using the microchip can also post high-tech, virtual lost-and-found flyers online, as well as send out mass e-mails to others with their contact information and a picture of the missing animal.
The most recent pet tracking device is called Find Toto – a phone service capable of spreading the news about a missing pet to as many as 10 thousand homes in the surrounding area. The process is has been formally dubbed "Robo-Calling."
FindToto.com's Colleen Busch explained the process is rather simple, despite the complicated name.
"(The website) pulls all of the neighbors' phone numbers and we alert them with a 30-second personalized message about your pet," Busch said.
When Nagel lost Mikey, she turned to FindToto.com. Her personalized message said, "Mikey is a white and apricot Maltese-Shitzu mix."
Nagel said her phone started ringing with reports of Mikey sightings soon after the calls were made.
"I heard phones ringing all over," Nagel said. "It really restored my faith in humanity."
Find Toto claims a recovery rate of 85 percent within the first 48 hours after an animal is lost. But Busch added that the service can still be effective afterwards.
"We've found a dog in six minutes and we've found a cat that was gone for five months," Busch said.
It took the service 26 hours to find Mikey.
"(Mikey) comes running up and jumps in my arms," Nagel said. "It was like a scene from a movie."
The cost of Find Toto varies depending on how many calls the owner wishes to make, with the maximum price being around $825. The company is exempt from the government's official Do Not Call list.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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