Did you know that the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County (HSVB & IRC) offers free pet ID tags as a public service? We’ll be offering them this Saturday, Nov. 7 at Pet Supermarket, located at the corner of 58th Avenue and Rt. 60, next to Target. Shelter staff will be there from 9-10:30 a.m. to issue the tags and answer questions. If you can’t make it this Saturday, just stop by the shelter at 6230 77th St. in Vero Beach between 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. any day of the week.Our ID tag program is just one of the many ways that HSVB & IRC is helping the animals of Indian River County. National statistics indicate that only 2 percent of lost cats and 16 percent of lost dogs without identification are ever found again by their families. Don’t let your animal companion become a tragic statistic.
Our tags are just as important as a rabies or county tag. They are engraved with a unique ID number for your pet along with the sentence “I AM LOST.” The tags also have our 24 hour paging service inscribed on them. If someone found your animal at 2:00 a.m. on Christmas morning and called our paging service, we’d be trying to reach you by 2:01 a.m.
We ask that you fill out a form with your contact information and a full description of your pet. We’re not trying to be intrusive when we ask you for your home, cell, friend and veterinarian’s phone numbers. We’re just realistic. We know that people move, change phone carriers and jobs and go on vacation. The more opportunities you give us to contact you, the faster we can reunite you and your lost animal companion. We can issue tags even if you and your pets are snowbirds – as long as you give us your contact information for up north, too. I can’t tell you how many lost animals we’ve reunited with families after receiving calls from New York, Maine, Wisconsin and Canada.
For optimal safety, animals should be microchipped and tagged. Microchips are small, inexpensive devices injected by a veterinarian under an animal’s skin that can supply shelters and veterinarians with your contact information. Microchipping is wonderful since it provides a permanent form of identification, however if someone finds your pet without a collar and tag they may not stop to think that the animal is microchipped and assume “finders, keepers.” Microchipping and tags complement each other well. Finally, remember to regularly update your contact information with the Humane Society, your veterinarian, your microchip company and any of your animal’s caretakers. Neither tags nor microchips will do your pet a bit of good if we can’t reach you.
Janet Winikoff, Director of EducationThe Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River Co.6230 77th Street, Vero Beach, FL 32967 (772) 388-3331 ext. 18jwinikoff@hsvb.org
