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Found & Missing Pet Information
If you have lost an animal please follow these steps:
- If you live in the City of Idaho Falls, or Bonneville County (excluding Ammon or Ucon) call the Shelter at 208-612-8670 to report your pet missing or send us a message on Facebook Messenger. Do not wait for a few days to see if the pet shows up first. After five full working days at the shelter, the animal becomes the property of Idaho Falls Animal Services and will be available for adoption or relocation to a different facility. Sometimes owners wait too long to come into the shelter, only to find their pet has been adopted into a new home or relocated to a different facility. Adoptions and relocations are final. Adopters of unclaimed animals will not be contacted to return the pet if the former owner shows up.
- Go to the shelter and look at all the animals. It is not always possible to confirm a pet identity over the phone because no two people describe an animal the same way. A picture is worth a thousand words. Be sure to inform the shelter staff the reason for the visit because sick or injured animals may be at a vet clinic or in a room not visible to the general public. If your pet is not at the shelter, please file a lost pet report at the front desk and also send a message to us on Facebook Messenger so we can post the information on the Idaho Falls Animal Shelter Facebook page (please note that it sometimes takes 2-3 days for them to be posted as this is operated mainly by volunteers). Most pets are found within the first week, but reunions may occur at any time. Don’t give up!!!
- Animals that are picked up as strays or found by a citizen are taken to the respective facilities that provide services to that particular jurisdiction. Often times animals travel further than we would expect. If there is any chance the animal was picked up in Ammon, contact Mountain River Vet. If there is any chance the animal was picked up in Ucon or Jefferson County, contact Snake River Animal Shelter. If the animal might have been picked up in Bingham County, contact the Blackfoot Animal Shelter.
It is also important to notify us when your pet is found by Facebook Messenger and phone. Keeping our lost list current facilitates match-ups and helps us reunite lost animals. We take many lost reports each month and doing follow-up calls is not feasible. Please help us help you!
If you have found a domestic animal (dog, cat, snake, parrot, etc....)
If you have found a dog please follow these steps:
Take the dog to the Animal Shelter to turn it in as a found stray. The staff will collect your information as well as the location the dog was found. They will then try to reunite the dog with the owner. If the dog was found outside of Idaho Falls Animal Services' jurisdiction please take it to the proper jurisdiction. If you are not sure please contact the Animal Shelter and the staff can direct you to the correct jurisdiction.
Please call non-emergency dispatch at (208)529-1200 if you are unable to or cannot safely bring the dog into the shelter yourself. If it is after business hours and an Animal Control Officer is not available, you may be asked to keep the dog until an Animal Control Officer comes back on duty, usually the following day.
If you try to locate the owner on your own, or an Animal Control Officer is not available to respond, please send a picture of the dog and the location the dog was found to the Idaho Falls Animal Shelter on Facebook Messenger. You can also post the information on various social media sites that reference lost/found animals.
If you have found a cat please follow these steps
Determine if you believe the cat is someone’s pet. This is usually recognizable if the cat has a collar, and/or if the cat is friendly and healthy. If the cat is healthy and believed to be a pet, please leave the cat alone. Cats are naturally roaming animals and will return home. If you do not want the cat on your property, do not feed them and make your property as uninviting as possible. There are several deterrents or ways to make a cat dislike your property. You can call the Shelter staff for recommendations.
If the cat is not believed to be a pet, but instead a Community Cat (feral) please capture the cat and bring it to the Idaho Falls Animal Shelter to be put through the Trap Neuter Return (TNR) program. We ask that you capture the cat, bring it to us, and after the animal has been to the vet, release the cat back to the location it was found. This is free of charge to you but helps the feral cat population to no longer have offspring.
Nationwide best practices are to not take pet cats into Animal Shelters as only about 2% of these cats are reclaimed. They are also exposed to diseases while in the shelter that can be easily spread to other cats once outside the shelter.
If you have found any other domestic animal (snake, parrot, ferret, etc.) please follow these steps:
Take the animal to the Animal Shelter to turn it in as a found stray. The staff will collect your information and the location the animal was found and try to reunite the animal with the owner. If the animal was found outside of Idaho Falls or outside of Bonneville County, please take it to the proper jurisdiction. If you are not sure please contact the Animal Shelter and the staff can direct you to the correct jurisdiction.
Please call Dispatch at (208)529-1200 if you are unable to, or cannot safely bring the animal into the shelter yourself. If it is after hours, and an Animal Control Officer is not available, you may be asked to hold on to the animal until the next available Animal Control Officer comes back to work, usually the following day.
If you try to locate the owner on your own, or an Animal Control Officer is not available to respond, please send a picture of the animal and the location the animal was found to us on Facebook Messenger. You can also post the information on various social media sites that reference lost/found animals.