Local police department uses social media to save lost pets

MILAN, Tenn. — Thanks to the Milan Police Department’s Facebook page, dogs and their owners are being reunited.

“When our animal control guy picks up a dog and puts it in our kennel, he gets us a photograph of that dog and let’s us know what location it was picked up in, what part of town it was found in,” Milan Police Chief Bobby Sellers said.

In the past three weeks, they’ve reunited four dogs with their owners. But before they started posting the pictures, it was a different story.

“Back in previous years, if we had a stray dog that was picked up, we’d keep it in a kennel for about three days, and if no one claimed that dog, we would take it and it’d be euthanized,” Chief Sellers said.

That’s where Companion Pet Rescue comes in.

“We’re a rescue group located in Jackson, Tennessee, but we are a New England rescue, so most of our dogs travel to the north to get adopted,” said Linda Perry, a foster mom with Companion Pet Rescue.

CPR fosters and adopts out almost 90 percent of the dogs that come to the holding facility in Milan. Thanks to them, the number of dogs euthanized in Milan has gone way down.

“I think since February of last year there’s only been four or five dogs at the most that’s been euthanized,” Perry said.

Chief Sellers says the Facebook posts have also had a lot of success. “I would say 90 to 95 percent rate of reuniting the dog with the owner, and usually within a day or two.”

Sellers and Perry say they are always accepting donations of dry dog food and toys for the dogs in the holding facility.