Pima Animal Care Center asks community to help prevent lost pets on New Year’s

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Pima  Animal Care Center officials are preparing for an influx of lost dogs following the New Year’s fireworks. With the shelter’s dog kennels at critical capacity and the cat kennels full due to a recent impound of 91 cats, PACC leadership is asking for the community’s help in keeping pets where they belong: with their families.

In 2024, PACC took in 256 dogs and 63 cats in the week following New Year’s.

To prevent your pet from becoming lost, PACC recommends the following:

• Make sure your pet has a currently registered microchip and a collar with tags. PACC offers free customized pet ID tags in the shelter’s adoption lobby year-round, and the shelter is also offering free microchips to dogs and cats living in Pima County until Jan. 5. To get your pet chipped, bring them to PACC’s Pet Support lobby any time the shelter is open.
• Keep your pet safely indoors during New Year’s festivities.
• Consider giving the pet something to distract them, like a KONG toy filled with peanut butter or another treat your pet enjoys, and using music or white noise to drown out the sound of fireworks.

If a member of the public finds or loses a pet, they should first file a report on Petco Love Lost, which uses image recognition technology to match lost pets with pets found in the community. Walking around the surrounding neighborhood, posting on local social media, and hanging flyers are additional proven strategies to get pets home without them ever having to step a paw in the shelter.

“All dog owners have had the experience of seeing their dog react to a noise outside that we as the pet owner didn’t hear. Their sense of hearing is significantly more sensitive than ours as humans. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that loud noises such as fireworks are alarmingly frightening to dogs,” said Steve Kozachik, PACC’s interim director.

“The volume of the noise, their inability to understand where it’s coming from, and the flashes when outside all work to disorient, confuse and scare our pets. Please, please, remember to keep your pets indoors on New Year’s Eve, and even better, provide them with some background sounds such as music, or even a fan or other white noise. Our auditory reality is not theirs – please understand and respect that.”

PACC is located at 4000 N. Silverbell Road and is open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from noon to 7 p.m., on Wednesday from 1:30 to 7 p.m., and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The shelter will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and closed on New Year’s Day. Emergency services will remain available.

To learn more about available PACC pets and services, please go to pima.gov/animalcare.

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