LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada SPCA and Hearts Alive Village are working together to provide resources for those who find stray animals in the Las Vegas valley.
After the Animal Foundation suspended intake operations due to an outbreak of canine pneumovirus, the organizations say they will begin providing free resources to people who find stray pets. This will include a kennel and food to house the animal in the finder’s home until space is available at a shelter or an owner can be located.
Animal Control services are currently only responding to calls involving aggressive and critically injured animals according to their media and confiscating animals from legal cases.
“This is an unprecedented crisis, and we have been flooded with calls and people coming into the shelter with stray animals every single day,” said Lori Heeren, Nevada SPCA Executive Director. “Although we are a small shelter with limited capacity, we are doing our best to accommodate the volume and we are asking for the community’s help and cooperation.”
Nevada SPCA says, under normal circumstances, it does not handle any lost or stray pets due to capacity restrictions and with no government contracts to provide those services. The organization usually only intakes owner-surrendered animals and transfers from various Nevada shelters.
Both organizations are asking for the public’s assistance in finding the owners of stray pets.
If a lost or stray animal is found without identification tags, the animal can be taken to any nearby veterinary clinic, pet retailers such as PetSmart or Petco, Nevada SPCA, or Hearts Alive Village to be scanned for a potential microchip.
If the animal does not have a microchip, photos of the animal should be posted to websites such as pawboost.com, Nextdoor, and to the Lost and Found pet groups on Facebook.
Nevada SPCA has also set up a temporary Lost and Found page.
Both organizations are also asking for the community’s help with any donations of dog and cat food. Hearts Alive Village Help Line is (702) 496-0705. Nevada SPCA can be reached at (702) 873-7722.
