Lost a pet? Contact your local animal control officer for help. Here's how.

Families use every measure to find lost or missing pets. Affixing posters around the community is one way to get help in locating their dog, cat or other family pet. Contacting your local animal control office is another means many use.

Photographs of missing or lost dogs and cats and other animals are constantly being posted to the New Bedford Police Animal Control Facebook pages.

Some will be reported as found, whether they returned home on their own or were dropped off at the new animal control headquarters at 890 Brock Ave. to be reunited with their owners. Sadly, some are lost forever.

New Bedford's Director of Animal Control Emanuel “Manny” Maciel and two other animal control officers work seven days a week and log in all calls about missing dogs, cats and other pets, including the owner’s contact information, when they went missing and where they were found. This allows officers to match descriptions of lost pets with those that are found and help reunite them with their owners.

While the state requires all lost pets be held for seven days, New Bedford animal control holds lost pets for 10 days. Proof of rabies vaccination must be provided before pets will be released to their owners.

Maciel recommends pet owners have their pets microchipped to make it easier to identify the rightful owner. It is illegal to keep someone else’s pet as they are considered property.

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Reporting lost pets in New Bedford

Pet owners can fill out a found animal form or a lost pet form on the New Bedford Animal Control page on the New Bedford Police Department website.

Owners of lost pets also have the option of uploading pictures of their animals to Finding Rover, an app linked to the animal control page that uses facial recognition technology to scan and match lost dogs with their owners.

If animal control picks up a dog, the officers upload the picture to the Finding Rover database.

Forever Paws Animal Shelter in Fall River

New Bedford and Fall River contract with Forever Paws Animal Shelter in Fall River to house and care for all stray animals in those areas as well as animals surrendered by their owners.

The Fall River Animal Control Facebook page also posts pictures of found pets and refers people who recognize the animals posted to contact Forever Paws at 508-677-9154.

According to its Facebook page, Forever Paws’ mission is to give animals the gift of time through managed intake and allows them to offer comprehensive treatment and care to stray, abused, or abandoned animals.

Forever Paws operates under no-kill practices, offering care for all treatable conditions with no restrictions on length of stay and is devoted to educating future generations to foster compassionate and humane attitudes towards all species of animal.

The nonprofit organization relies on donations, fundraising and dedicated benefactors and supporters and is open by appointment only.

Lost pet in Acushnet?

In Acushnet, the animal control officer answers all dog and animal complaints and arranges for lost dogs to be taken to Lakeville Animal Shelter.

The Lakeville Animal Control officers can only accept stray dogs from the Acushnet animal control officer available at 508-998-9040.

Lost pet in Dartmouth?

In Dartmouth, the town has a shelter contract with the Humane Society & Shelter of South Coast located at 31 Ventura Dr. in Dartmouth.

Animals picked up by animal control are brought to the Humane Society and given food, shelter until an owner is located. If no owner is found, the animal is evaluated and put up for adoption after the required holding period.

The office has an answering machine that is checked frequently during working hours. Callers are asked to leave a clear message and telephone number because there is no one in the office.

Lost pet in Fairhaven?

The Fairhaven Animal Control officer operates out of the Fairhaven Animal Shelter at 200 Bridge St in Fairhaven and can be reached at 508-979-4028 and by email at [email protected].

The Fairhaven Animal Control and Shelter also has an official Facebook page.

Standard-Times staff writer Kathryn Gallerani can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @kgallreporter. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times today.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Contact your local animal control officer if you lose a pet or find one