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Animal shelters busy after July 4th fireworks; what to do if you lost or found a dog

Posted at 7:33 AM, Jul 05, 2017
and last updated 2017-07-05 22:01:57-04

Maricopa County Animal Care and Control has hundreds of pets after Fourth of July celebrations. 

Officials have already taken in more than 200 pets since Friday when fireworks displays started and as of Wednesday morning, they have about 1,000. 

MCACC held a free adoption event over the weekend where they adopted out more than 200 animals but that has been canceled out with what they picked up.

While at the shelter near 27th Avenue and Buckeye Road, ABC15 heard a commotion. It was the excitement from one family finding their dog after searching all morning.

"Somebody blew off an M80 and he just pushed so hard he slipped out of my hand and went right down into the canal," Laura Schiffmacher explained. 

Schiffmacher's dog — appropriately named "Spook" should consider changing his name to "Lucky."

"We've been here; we went through everything," Schiffmacher said. "We were going to go back and look at the sick dogs and I was walking back in and there was a couple here holding him on our way out. It was fabulous!"

Reunions like those are what MCACC hopes for. However, that's not always the case. Pets are usually held for 72 hours. After that, they're put up for adoption or even worse — euthanized. 

"And we hate to say that, but we need people to feel the sense of urgency," MCACC spokeswoman Melissa Gable said. "Don't wait until this weekend to come looking. Start looking now."

If you lost your pet, call the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control Phoenix shelter at 602-506-7387, but also check the shelter in Mesa.  

Maricopa County also has a tool available that allows residents to search for lost and/or found pets near their addresses.

"You can type in where your pet was last seen and it will show you all the animals that have come in from that area," Gables said.

If you have found an animal, you can call MCACC and an officer will pick it up. It could take a while since they're expecting to be so busy. 

The holding time is 72 hours -- after that time your dog could go up for adoption.