New Haven Central Hospital for Veterinary Medicine and SeeClickFix proudly announce an innovative partnership to reunite missing pets with their owners. The hospital will leverage our place-based reporting platform and open-source mapping technology to track lost and found animals in southern Connecticut. From Norwalk and Newtown to Shelton and Seymour, the hospital and surrounding communities alike can use the SeeClickFix interface to search for and recover missing pets across the region—all in real time.

“We’re continually looking for ways to promote the health and safety of animals in towns and cities across the region,” said Ken Aldrich, hospital director. “With its high user base and solution-focused nature, SeeClickFix creates a powerful avenue for reaching more people and provides opportunity for community collaboration in safely returning these pets back home where they belong.”

Having previously received numerous calls about lost and found pets, the hospital wanted a more streamlined and accessible channel through which residents could connect with and communicate information to neighbors and the hospital itself. With our interactive map embedded on its website, the hospital provides an open, social, and more expansive means of disseminating information about lost and found dogs, cats, and other pets.

Through the hospital’s website, individuals can report missing pets through custom categories such as ‘Lost Cat’ or ‘Found Dog’ and specify more in-depth information about the animal through the description or image options, including the animal’s name, breed, gender, and location. Once submitted, the report becomes publicly available and sent to those following the region via real-time email notifications. The hospital and community alike can then provide additional geographic, descriptive, or photographic information and update the report once the animal has been recovered. Veterinary practices, shelters, and residents can even create their own “watch areas” to receive notifications about all lost and found animals reported in their community, enabling them to follow the progress of all submissions---not just the ones they report.

The partnership also allows local veterinary practices in southern Connecticut to embed the reporting platform directly on their websites, providing yet another public service to the communities they serve.

"On a personal note, I'm very excited to launch this new use of the SeeClickFix platform since Central Hospital takes care of my canine companions: Del the puggle and Pepper the mutt who I actually found hunting potholes," said Ben Berkowitz, SeeClickFix CEO. "The idea behind using SeeClickFix to recover lost animals actually came from the animal hospital's real cork board with missing pet flyers combined with New Haven users already reporting lost pets through our platform. In fact, our own backyard regularly inspires many of the applications of the SeeClickFix platform across the globe. We hope that many lost pets will be recovered as people start using this tool in a similar fashion."

You can start reporting lost and found pets here: http://www.centralpetvet.com/lostpets.html