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Having a safe holiday with your pets

More family pets will run away from home this Friday than during any other day of the year because of fireworks. Helen Woodward Animal Center is encouraging families to take a few simple precautions and make sure that their pets are safe and secure during Independence Day weekend fireworks displays.

HWAC spokesman John Van Zante says, “Even the echo and sound of fireworks several miles away can terrify a family pet. If they don’t have a safe place to hide, or if there’s a way for them to run out a door or escape over a fence, your pet could be gone.”

HWAC offers a few suggestions for families to keep their pets safe this week.

* Do not take your pets along to the fireworks displays.
* Bring your pets indoors before fireworks displays begin.
* Make sure that your pets have access to their favorite “safe place” or find a quiet, comfortable, enclosed room where your pets can “hide” if they need to.
* If you go to a fireworks display and leave your pets at home, leave the radio or television set on so there is some “normal” background noise.

Van Zante says this a good time to make sure your pets are micro-chipped. “Many pets that run away during the fireworks slip out of their collars. A micro-chip I.D. with correct contact information assures that your pet can be returned if it ends up at a shelter.”

What if your pet escapes in spite of your efforts? “Search through your neighborhood right away…then keep it up. Don’t quit after a day or two. Check with the animal shelters and keep checking for several weeks. You can also post signs in your neighborhood, but the best thing to do is to make sure your pets never run away to begin with.”

For more information call Helen Woodward Animal Center at 858-756-4117 or visit the Center at 6461 El Apajo Road. For the location of the shelters nearest you log on to [3] AnimalCenter.org.

The adoptions department at Helen Woodward Animal Center will be open
from 11 am to 6 pm on the 4th of July.

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