If you have lost or found a pet, Council can help you.
If you have lost your cat or dog, contact Council and provide the following information:
- A description of the animal
- The current registration tag number
- The microchip number
- When and where the animal went missing
- Your name and a contact phone number.
To make sure that you are reunited with your pet as soon as possible, please ensure that your pet always wears its collar and registration tag and is microchipped with your current details recorded on the microchip register.
You can also contact Council’s animal services provider - Animal Aid on (03) 8756 1300 because your pet may have been taken there. Animal Aid is located at 35 Killara Road, Coldstream.
Council recommends you also contact the RSPCA on (03) 9224 2222 and local veterinary clinics.
You may also consider placing notices on public notice boards, or doing a letter box drop in your local area (please do not place signs on public places).
If an animal fitting the description of your pet is found and Council is notified, you will be contacted (Council has your contact information). You will be asked to come to the Council pound (Animal Aid) or to Council to determine if it is your pet.
Animal Aid also undertakes a tracing procedure to try and locate the owner of a stray pet. If the owner is identified, they will be advised of the situation. If a pet is microchipped and its details are up to date, it will have a much better chance of being reunited with its owner.
Fees will apply for collecting your pet from Animal Aid and they are payable in full prior to the pet being released. These fees are charged for the housing, caring and feeding of the pet.
Fines may also be issued by Council to the owners of wandering cats and dogs.
If your pet is not registered, please ensure that you register your pet online before collecting your pet to expedite the process.
If you find a lost or stray dog or cat - firstly, if the cat or dog is injured, immediately take it the closest vet. Otherwise:
- Please secure the animal if it is safe to do so.
- If you have the dog or cat contained, you must contact Council on (03) 9262 6333 (24 hours) and ask to be put through to the 'Animal Management' or 'Community Laws' section as soon as possible. It is important to report any found animals to Council. Although you may not wish to see the animal impounded, you are required by law to deliver the cat or dog as soon as is reasonably possible, to a Council Officer or Council’s pound (Animal Aid).
- Not contacting Council and keeping the animal can reduce the owners' chances of finding their dog or cat, as the pound is the most likely place they will check. We discourage holding the animal yourself.
- Unless you are taking the animal to the council pound, it is also important not to take the animal out of the area where it was found as this also makes it more difficult for owners to find their pet.
- Council will let you know what to do next. For example whether they will collect the animal, whether you need to bring it into the pound, or whether it needs to be trapped.
- Council contained dog collection service - Monday to Sunday from 8.30am to 8.30pm.
- Council contained cat collection service - Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm (excluding public holidays)
- Council Officers will make every attempt to reunite pets with their owner as soon as possible to avoid any unnecessary stress for the pet or its family by using the animal's registration or microchip details. If the animal has identification, Council can get in contact with the owners by tracing the registration tag number or microchip.
- If the found animal is wearing a registration tag, with your permission, Council may be able to contact the owner and arrange for them to collect their pet from you. If the owner can’t be contacted or the pet is not wearing visible identification a Council Officer will attend and collect the pet.
- Stray dogs or cats found without identification and/or whose owners cannot be contacted will be taken to Animal Aid. If Council cannot identify the owner, it will retain the animal for 8 days to give an owner the chance to reclaim it.
- If the animal is not owned or reclaimed, and you wish to adopt it, you can speak to Council or Animal Aid for advice on how to go about this.
If you have found a deceased dogs or cats, contact Council. Deceased pets collected by Council will be taken to the RSPCA in Burwood East. If the pet is wearing identification or has a microchip, the RSPCA will contact the owner to advise them.