LOST DOGS ILLINOIS RECEIVES ASPCA GRANT

 Lost Dogs Illinois (LDI) has received a grant to purchase a pet identification tag engraving machine from the ASPCA (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

This comes at a time when the ASPCA is increasing efforts to raise awareness about the importance of pet ID tags when trying to reunite lost animals with their families. Through research done in the past 3 years, they reported that 89% of owners who left a shelter with a pet ID tag kept the tag on the animal. 

Having a personalized identification on an animal with its name alongside the owner’s name and contact information can make returning a lost pet faster and easier. Instead of requiring a visit from animal control or taking the animal to a shelter, people who find the animal can simply look at the tag. In the same time it would take to call animal control, the animal’s owners can be called immediately. This relieves stress on the owners who might be searching for their family pet, and the animal itself, who can’t seem to find its own way home.

ID tags also prove to be crucial when pets are picked up by strays and brought to shelters. Without any form of identification, the shelter does not know whether or not the animal has a home and another family could adopt it while its original loved ones are still looking for their furry friend.

The new machine, built by VIP (Vital Information Plate) Engravers, will travel with LDI to events throughout the area and allow LDI to provide pet owners with low-cost identification tags. The first event that they plan to try it out is the Chicagoland Family Pet Expo, which will take place March 15-17 at the Arlington Park Racecourse in Arlington Heights.