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Parrish, FL: Lost Pet Services, Inc., a local nonprofit, has donated a microchip scanner to the Parrish Fire Station to help reunite lost pets in the north Manatee County area. This is the second scanner the local nonprofit has donated to local first responders. Previously, Lost Pet Services (LPS) donated a microchip scanner to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department for their Ag Department.
Microchip scanners aid in the quick reunion of found pets with their families. When a pet is scanned and a chip is detected, the LPS team is able to contact the microchip registry company to obtain the owner information. The chip number is then looked up using the AAHA – American Animal Hospital Association Universal Pet Microchip Lookup Tool. The scanner only provides a unique registration number – think a social security number for your pet – it does not give out owner information.
Manatee County does not have after hours animal control officers on duty for found pets so LPS has provided a number of scanners to individual volunteers throughout both Manatee and Sarasota counties to help. The Parrish Fire Department is their most recent addition. They will be able to help those pets found in northern Manatee County after hours, weekends and holidays when the local shelter is closed. Pets can be scanned for free at local ER vets, but the local ER vets are many miles from Parrish. Having a scanner in this location is a great help to good Samaritans trying to reunite found pets with their owners.
“Due to the pandemic and being in a high-risk situation, I was not able to personally deliver the donated scanner to the Fire Station. Thankfully, Det. Holly Combee from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department graciously did this for us.” said Patty Giarrusso, President & Founder of Lost Pet Services.
The microchip scanner donation is made possible through funding provided by the Robert Parker Fund of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. A second scanner purchased from funds provided by the grant will be used by an LPS volunteer in the Venice FL area.
About the Community Foundation of Sarasota County: The Community Foundation of Sarasota County is a public charity founded in 1979 by the Southwest Florida Estate Planning Council as a resource for caring individuals and the causes they support, enabling them to make a charitable impact on the community. With assets of over $398 million in more than 1,400 charitable funds, the Community Foundation awarded grants and scholarships totaling over $34 million dollars last year in the welfare and the environment. For more information, visit www.CFSarasota.org or call (941) 955-3000.