In 2009 I started a small business to help people find their missing pets. Call me a Pet Detective if you must, but only my sister is allowed to call me Ace. I prefer to call myself a a Lost Pet Search and Recovery Consultant, which is a more accurate description of my actual job. I do in fact have some training and professional background relating to this obscure and often maligned occupation. I have a B.A. in Wildlife Ecology from Hampshire College, and I’ve worked as a wildlife biologist, environmental scientist, and veterinary technician. Some of the projects I’ve worked on include the Central Rockies Wolf Project studying wolves and bears in Banff National Park, Alberta and the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center studying coyotes and red foxes in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. I have been studying dog training/behavior since 2007 after adopting my own dog, and I volunteer for the T.J. O’Connor Animal Control & Adoption Center, the Springfield Homeless Cat Project (a trap-neuter-return group), and the Westfield Homeless Cat Project (a no-kill cat rescue group). Finally, in 2008 I received my certification as a Missing Animal Response Technician from Missing Pet Partnership, a national non-profit organization dedicated to reuniting lost pets with their owners/guardians.
I have learned a lot over the past couple years both from helping people find their lost pets (mostly cats) and from continuing to expand my own education through seminars, books, and scientific journals. However, perhaps due to my background in the natural sciences, I have become increasingly frustrated with the lack of research behind much of the information shared and methods used in lost pet search and recovery. My goals with this blog are: 1) to summarize and discuss research studies related to lost pet behavior and recovery; 2) to explore different areas of lost pet search and recovery that are controversial and suggest further research; and 3) to share the results of some of my own research projects. I am currently most interested in studying: 1) the natural behavior of outdoor-access (owned) cats and free-ranging (feral or stray) cats; 2) the impact and success of using feeding stations to recover lost cats; 3) the usefulness of different methods for preventing pet loss such as GPS devices and radio-tracking; and 4) the causes of death for free-ranging dogs and cats, in particular the potential dangers of vehicles and predators such as coyotes and bobcats.
Please note that I do not consider myself an expert (hopefully someday but not yet), and I would be happy to hear from anyone who has research or experience that supports or contradicts any of my posts. I am just someone who loves to collect, analyze, and share information that will hopefully help bring more lost pets home.
If you would like to contact me, please visit my website Compassionate Pet Services or email me at danielle@compassionatepetservices.com
Lost Pet Research Blog by Danielle Robertson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License.
