[angiefox10]

Day number 3 of as the pets turn.

This is day number three of reasons why The Villages has instructed their employees to not inform Lost Pets of The Villages of a lost or found pet.

Understand, the employees of The Villages have NEVER to my knowledge “recommended” Lost Pets of The Villages to a resident. They simply make us aware of the lost or found pet and we contact the resident to see if we can help.

Day three…. “would it be reasonable to entrust a pet to an uninsured organization”

If an organization or person is “insured” it your number one priority in finding your pet or getting it back home….

They got us there!

We don’t have formal insurance! We of course have medical if we need it and homeowner’s insurance…..

I highly doubt if that is what a pet owner is concerned with. And if that is a concern to The Villages, they could make the resident aware of that….

If your pet is lost, we are boots on the ground, posting to find your pet in all venues and in the hood passing out our card making people aware of your lost pets, so we have everyone looking for your pet. Most likely we will not touch your pet but will get everyone else involved.

While Lost Pets has on occasion found a lost pet… most likely it’s our presence getting people involved and working with Community Watch as well as the Radio Station that does it. Lost Pets of The Villages will continue to work with Community Watch and The Radio Station to help when a pet is lost. It’s NOT the employees who are doing this. This is The Villages. \or
Lost Pets of The Villages works hard 24/7 to keeps pet out of the shelters. The shelters are full and/or kill according to the number of days.

Do you want your pet to go to the shelter when it can be avoided????

When a pet is found… Most often, again, we are Lost Pets do not touch your pet. The pet often times stays in the “finders” home while we start combing the hood, posting in social media, and nextdoor, to find the owner and get it back home. We all have chip readers, so the pet never has to leave the hood. Pets rarely go far form the area it was found.

We instruct the owner of a lost pet as to what to do to find their pet and the finder as to what to do to find the owner.

Maybe we need to make sure EVERY “finder” has insurance to hold a pet until Animal Control comes?

Maybe all our neighbors should have insurance to help us find our pets.

Is this the craziest reason yet????

When Jennifer Parr’s grandson’s dog was found on Saddlebrook Golf Course, we went out and scanned for a chip… found the owner and called the owner to come and pick up the dog. Cooper didn’t have to go to a shelter and the owner didn’t seem to care if we had insurance. He was happy to get his dog home.

So... if insurance is a concern to you… Let us know. What kind of insurance do you want us to have?

People are asking who to contact regarding this decision. I would suggest you go to Jennifer Parr at 2710 Paddock Place, The Villages, FL 32162. Maybe she can help. It’s worth a try.

So.... What say you????

Angie Fox
Lost Pets of The Villages
815-370-9115

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by angiefox10

If your pet is lost, we are boots on the ground, posting to find your pet in all venues and in the hood passing out our card making people aware of your lost pets, so we have everyone looking for your pet. Most likely we will not touch your pet but will get everyone else involved.

While Lost Pets has on occasion found a lost pet… most likely it’s our presence getting people involved and working with Community Watch as well as the Radio Station that does it. Lost Pets of The Villages will continue to work with Community Watch and The Radio Station to help when a pet is lost. It’s NOT the employees who are doing this. This is The Villages. \or
Lost Pets of The Villages works hard 24/7 to keeps pet out of the shelters. The shelters are full and/or kill according to the number of days. Do you want your pet to go to the shelter when it can be avoided?

I personally think your organization is the answer to a prayer.
Thanks for all your hard work.

[Bonnevie]

you are the best!!!

[redwitch]

The more you post, the more I think TV has some liability issues in recommending your organization. Sounds like a lawyer got involved and said TV personnel could not mention an uninsured, unlicensed animal care group. Seems like they could come up with a way to word a recommendation to pet owners that would let them off the hook.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by redwitch

The more you post, the more I think TV has some liability issues in recommending your organization. Sounds like a lawyer got involved and said TV personnel could not mention an uninsured, unlicensed animal care group. Seems like they could come up with a way to word a recommendation to pet owners that would let them off the hook.

Lost Pets of the Villages seems more like a group of individuals coordinating finding lost pets and getting them back to the owners. Not really an organization with some kind of flow chart showing roles and duties of "officers". And Angie Fox and her husband do not really have any control over any of the actions of the various volunteers in this group of people.

[redwitch]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Lost Pets of the Villages seems more like a group of individuals coordinating finding lost pets and getting them back to the owners. Not really an organization with some kind of flow chart showing roles and duties of "officers". And Angie Fox and her husband do not really have any control over any of the actions of the various volunteers in this group of people.

I understand that and think they do a wonderful job. However, I’d be willing to bet that someone at legal put a kibosh on TV employees mentioning Angie’s group or, even more nauseating, Sumter Animal Control managed to pressure TV. Does sound like they’re trying to force Lost Pets to become some type of an organization.

Angie, if you feel the need to officially organize, shout out. I’m sure many of us would be more than happy to help with any costs involved.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by redwitch

I understand that and think they do a wonderful job. However, I’d be willing to bet that someone at legal put a kibosh on TV employees mentioning Angie’s group or, even more nauseating, Sumter Animal Control managed to pressure TV. Does sound like they’re trying to force Lost Pets to become some type of an organization.

Angie, if you feel the need to officially organize, shout out. I’m sure many of us would be more than happy to help with any costs involved.

I guess there is a target to sue if something goes wrong with an animal rescue and Lost Pets of the Villages is more than a confederacy of people who care about united lost pets with their heart broken owners.

You do sound right Red that a lawyer is looking out in case something does go wrong with a rescue and the lawyer involved looks for whatever deep pockets might be involved. They do teach that in law school of the economics of bringing a lawsuit. Torts 101. Or, maybe, it was 102. Not sure. But my law professor sure mentioned that problem.

If Lost Pets of the Villages organizes they should put a lawyer on retainer or whatever the practice is in 2018.

[angiefox10]

First, The employees to my knowledge have never told anyone to call us. They would contact us and we would contact the resident to see if we could assist.


"Lost Pets of the Villages seems more like a group of individuals coordinating finding lost pets and getting them back to the owners. Not really an organization with some kind of flow chart showing roles and duties of "officers". And Angie Fox and her husband do not really have any control over any of the actions of the various volunteers in this group of people.'

You are correct. We also have no control over what goes on at Sumter County Animal Control, we can't get in there to see the pets. An THEY are a government organization.

This is correct. We have no control over ANYONE. However, in the past, when people found pets, often times they would assume it was a stray or a dump. People would keep a pet, rehome it, take it to a rescue or call animal control.


We have been very active in educating people and preventing that from happening. Every once in awhile, someone will find a pet and want to keep it. If we know about it, we will post for that pet to get it back home!

We have also actively educated people in the urgency of chipping and tagging their pets.

Marion County got so full, they stopped taking in "strays", so if the resident doesn't know we are here, what are they going to do with the pet?

We have had other towns and communities join our group to model their groups after Lost Pets of The Villages because of our success.

Stay tuned for the next edition of As the pets turn to learn about our procedures.

And YES!!! This is political. The fact that they never told anyone about us in the first place is the tell.

[angiefox10]

"Angie, if you feel the need to officially organize, shout out. I’m sure many of us would be more than happy to help with any costs involved."

The Villages made it clear it wouldn't matter what we do, they will not change their minds.

[lorilorilori]

In most cases, medical insurance or the homeowners insurance would cover a nasty bite.

In most cases, an "owned" animal would be fully vacinated so little worry about rabies.

In most cases, U'd think an animal found in the Villages belongs to someone living here

so why burden the Tax Dollars of the county to take in another animal ??

Like economic common sense.

U'd think Sumter Animal Control would want a working relationship to lessen
their kill rate.

[GolfGirl122]

This is all politically motivated - as the daily posts are pointing out the weak and meaningless reasons that The Village officials are backing and requiring their employees to call Sumter County Animal Control to report a ‘found’ animal. Recently, the County officials threatened to sue The Lost Pet members to shut them down (or shut them up). The threat of the lawsuit didn’t work as it was frivolous and would have been an embarrassment for the County officials. So the County went to The Villages and asked for cooperation to throw a wrench in the Lost Pets operation. The County has no interest in saving or protecting our pets - they didn’t like being asked for transparency, they resisted public comments, all brought about by a group, a large group, of residents of The Villages and other Sumter County residents, who were trying to save the animals in Sumter County. This is political and the animals are the losers. I support Lost Pets of The Villages and hope everyone who has a pet realizes that the next lost pet could be yours. Who do you want me to call if I find it? Animal Control or Lost Pets who will scan your pet and get it back to you ASAP.

[Jima64]

What does it take to become a legal nonprofit, also the cost?