Website Will Help Reunite People with Pets after Disaster

(TNS) — In the hours and days after the Black Forest fire erupted June 11, 2013, the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region began the task of reuniting people with their misplaced animals — including horses, cats, dogs, cattle and even a parrot separated from their owners.

Shelter and veterinary clinics opened their doors to hundreds of lost animals waiting to be claimed. Peyton resident Cindy McKeon created a Facebook page, Black Forest Fire Lost and Found Pets, where people could post photos of lost pets. Almost two years after the fire, the page is a popular site for lost and found postings.

But a new website created by computer scientists at the University of Colorado at Boulder hopes to make pet-and-owner reunifications during and after disasters even easier. EmergencyPetMatcher is a one-stop website for lost and found postings, where people can post photos of lost pets and hopefully match them with photos of pets found. Users of the website can peruse posted photos and look for matches. When a certain number of people suggest a match, an email is generated to the posters of lost and found photos.

Having a system to reunite people with their pets will hopefully mitigate some of the intense trauma of a disaster situation, said Joanne White, a CU Boulder researcher who helped create the website.

"Those most impacted by loss of pets and service animals are also society's most vulnerable - children, the elderly, and the disabled," White said in a news release from the university. "Minimizing the time these people are separated from their animals is an important way to help recovery after a disaster."

The website is intended for use only during a disaster, White said. She declined to discuss the website in greater detail until it goes live — when a disaster occurs.

The website is a part of Project EPIC, a 2009 National Science Foundation initiative that set aside $2.9 million for projects that help with information flow during disasters.

In addition to her work on EmergencyPetMatcher, White is working on a way for pet evacuation centers to keep digital records of pets going in and out of shelters. She also is working on evacuation maps that will help people find the best route to pet evacuation centers, such as the Elbert County Fairgrounds, during a disaster, according to the university's news release.

©2015 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.