Report a Lost Pet

We’ve recently received numerous reports of a pervasive scam targeting the owners of lost pets by impersonating APS of Durham. After a pet is reported lost, a scammer calls posing as local law enforcement, a vet office, and/or APS (with a spoofed phone number to appear legitimate) with heartbreaking news that the pet has life-threatening injuries requiring emergency surgery. The owner is told they must send a large amount of money to cover the vet care or else their pet will be immediately euthanized.

THIS IS A SCAM. APS of Durham will never call you demanding funds for a lost pet.

If you receive a call like this, please immediately hang up and call the organization or office directly (using known phone numbers from Google) to verify whether the call is legitimate.

I have lost my pet, what do I do?

  • You must come in person to the Durham County Shelter during business hours to look for your lost pet. Since we have an average of 20 animals coming to the shelter every day, we cannot guarantee that the staff who answer the phone are aware of every animal. Also, your description of your lost pet may differ from that of our staff &/or that of Animal Services.
  • We check every incoming animal for rabies and ID tags, and scan for a microchip. This greatly assists in reuniting pets with their owners.
  • Should you find your animal at the shelter, you will need to provide proof of ownership (photos, vet records) in order to reclaim him/her.
  • If  you do not find your animal at the shelter when you visit, we recommend that you make a lost pet report on our website.  Please bring a PHOTO and description of your pet.  
  • However, even with a lost report on file, it is still the responsibility of the owner to continue to visit the shelter to check whether his/her pet has been brought in.

24Petconnect

Stray animals at our shelter are also tracked on 24Petconnect (a website which automatically uploads information about animals at the shelter).  You may use this valuable tool for free but, again, we remind you that nothing is a substitute for personally checking at the shelter. Visit 24 Pet Connect.

Durham County Animal Services

Descriptions of animals found by Durham County Animal Services Officers can be found at https://twitter.com/foundpetsdurham. Animals brought to the Durham County Animal Shelter by members of the public will not be posted on this twitter feed.

Other things to do

  • Check other area shelters.
  • Post fliers in your neighborhood, at community centers, shopping centers & vets’ offices.
  • Put a lost pet ads online on sites such as PawBoost and lost pet pages on NextDoor and Facebook.
  • Don’t give up! Sometimes pets are reunited with their owners after being missing for weeks or even months.

When you’ve located your lost pet

  • When you’re pet has been found, please contact us at lostandfound@apsofdurham.org to have us remove your listing.

Report your lost pet to APS

If you’ve lost a pet, please fill out the form below. Once you submit the form, our team will add your pet to the listing of lost pets. Thank you!

* By submitting this form, you are giving permission to the APS of Durham to share your information with the finder or owner of the pet you have just reported. Your information will be used solely for the purpose of connecting lost and found pets with their rightful owners and we will not sell your information or add you to our email list.