Kelsey Pizzi, Animal Foundation communications manager, holds a stray Shih Tzu in the intake area at the Animal Foundation Friday, June 28, 2024.
Thursday, July 4, 2024 | 2 a.m.
It can happen in seconds: A firework whistles into the dark, Southern Nevada sky and erupts in an explosion, resulting in a burst of red and blue. Immediately, a frightful yelp is heard as a dog leaps over a fence and races down the street into the neighborhood.
The Fourth of July — and the days surrounding it — can be a stressful, even dangerous, time for many, including veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and noise-sensitive pets. Local animal retrieval services and shelters typically see an increase in lost pets that have escaped from their homes in an attempt to avoid the scary boom of pyrotechnics.
But the Animal Foundation, an animal shelter off Eastern Avenue and U.S. 95 in Las Vegas, is hoping its Pet Support Hotline, which officially debuted this spring, will be a major player in helping pet parents protect or reunite with their furry friends during the holiday.
“It tends to just trend as one of the busiest weeks of the year,” Hilarie Grey, CEO of The Animal Foundation, said about the week surrounding the Fourth of July. “Unfortunately, a lot of pets do get out and get lost during that week, so we’re going to be prepared for an increase of folks both coming in in-person and calling our (Pet Support) hotline.”
The Pet Support Hotline soft launched at the end of last year and was available to the public around March, offering a resource for people to call with inquiries on lost pets, community resources and animal surrenders. Staff can refer pet owners to resources that help with rehoming animals, connect them to financial or pet food support services, and support them when reporting a lost pet. People who have found stray animals can also call the line for directions on how to help.
Grey, who has been in her position since 2022, said the hotline has been in discussion for a while and the inspiration came from the Pima Animal Care Center in Tucson, Ariz.
In 2016, Pima Animal Care Center established its Pet Support Center, which “works with pet owners in crisis to provide support and resources to keep pets in the home that loves them.” It offers many of the same services that the Animal Foundation’s hotline does and has met with success since its creation almost a decade ago, Grey said.
When Grey pitched this idea to local jurisdictions last year during contract amendments, there were three goals: reduce wait times to 72 hours for found animals not in crisis, decrease owner-surrender intakes by 30% by the end of 2023 and increase shelter returns to owners by 10% by the end of 2023.
Grey said the Animal Foundation didn’t yet have data on the hotline’s impact with regards to a reduction of intakes or wait times, but said it’s received over 5,000 calls in the first third of this year and answers about 100 emails a day.
In June alone, the Animal Foundation took in over 2,230 pets, the shelter said in a news release. This number was bolstered by Metro’s busting of an alleged illegal breeding operation where 39 dogs were confiscated and a neglect case.
The Animal Foundation and Las Vegas Animal Protection Services typically expect a surge in animal intakes around the Fourth of July holiday. From July 1 to 10, 2023, the Animal Foundation took in 594 animals, the shelter reported.
Jim Andersen, chief of code enforcement at Clark County, said Clark County’s Animal Protection Services usually brings in about 86 animals on average during that July 1-10 span, a slight increase from other times. From January to May, the county’s Animal Protection Service has received 38,365 calls and impounded 2,966 animals, according to data from its code enforcement department.
“We do see a trend that people know their dogs escaped during (Fourth of July) when it’s dark, when the fireworks are going off,” Andersen said. “It’s very dangerous for pets to be running out; we have many, many injured and killed animals from getting struck by vehicles.”
That number from the Animal Foundation includes intakes from Animal Protection Services in Clark County, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, as well as regular residents who bring in lost animals they find.
About 70% to 80% of the animals being housed at the foundation are strays, but they’re not always animals that were born and live on the streets, Grey said. Many times, the animals have been living on the streets for a while but were once pets to owners with whom they weren’t able to be reunited.
With the shelter intake numbers that the foundation has seen in 2024, they’re expecting a “potentially overwhelming Fourth of July.”
To protect pets, Andersen encourages pet owners to get a microchip implanted in their animals and update any existing microchips with current contact information. Tags with an owner’s name and phone number that hook onto pet collars can also be helpful.
If your pet has noise sensitivities, Andersen recommends staying home to comfort it today when fireworks are popping off, creating a comfortable and quiet space in the house for them, securing any outdoor latches on gates, removing items near fences that dogs could use to jump over and fixing any holes or loose boards in the yard area to ensure animals can’t escape.
For pets that escape during the Fourth of July, Grey and Andersen said owners should first search their neighborhood, then post flyers or pictures on local Lost and Found pet groups, neighborhood phone apps or the Petco Lost Love website — where owners can also check if their animal has been picked up and taken to the Animal Foundation. The Pet Support Hotline will be available as well for those who find or need to report a lost pet, Grey noted.
Clark County Animal Protection Services will also be waiving the impound fees that owners are charged when an animal is picked up and taken to the Animal Foundation, Andersen added. The $100 impound fee will be waived through July 10.
“Our hope for the hotline is that people will use it, that people will reach out instead of, if they find a friendly dog or cat running around their neighborhood, instead of automatically calling Animal (Protection Services) to come out and get it,” Grey said of the hotline. “Being able to have this customer resource and to be able to sort through things with people before they come in has helped us serve more people more quickly and facilitate more reunions.”
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