Our facility provides pound services for Central Huron, Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh, Bluewater Township, Huron East and the Town of Goderich. Stray dogs must be admitted to the pound by the Animal Control Officer. If you find a stray dog, please contact the Animal Control Officer at 519.525.7402. He will transport the dog to our facility and complete the admission process. On admission, the dogs are checked for identification and scanned for a microchip – if a chip or other identification is found, the owner is contacted. If we cannot identify the owner, the dog is held at the facility for three business days, as required by law. If the dog was found in a municipality not served by our facility, the Animal Control officer will transport it to the facility acting as the pound in that area. Please note that there is no stray cat bylaw in any township in Huron County and the pound cannot admit straying cats unless they are injured. If you find a stray cat, you should contact the vet clinics in the area, as well as the OSPCA branches in Goderich and Stratford with a description of the cat and details about where and when it was found, in case the owner phones in looking for their cat. You can also post notices on community bulletin boards, Facebook groups, and other public places with this information. While we cannot admit stray cats, we would be happy to scan a found cat for a microchip and contact the owner if a chip is found.
What to do if your pet gets lost
- Contact the Animal Control Officer at 519.525.7402 with a description of your pet, the date and time that it went missing, and the location where your pet was lost. If someone finds your pet, the Animal Control Officer will be the one who gets called to collect it, so if he knows who the pet belongs to, it will save everyone a lot of time and the pet can come home more quickly.
- Contact area vet clinics and the Goderich and Stratford OSPCA branches with a description of your pet, the date and time that it went missing, and the location where your pet was lost, in case someone calls in that has found a pet that matches your description.
- Put up notices on community notice boards and other public places with a picture and description of your pet, the date it went missing, the area it was last seen, and your contact information. There are several active Facebook groups for local classified ads in Huron County where you could post this information as well to reach as many people as possible.
What to do if your dog is in the pound
If your dog has been admitted to the pound, you should contact the Animal Control Officer, if he hasn’t already contacted you. He can be reached at 519.525.7402. You will have to go to the municipal office for your municipality (this will be the place you pay your property taxes) to purchase a town dog license, if your dog doesn’t already have one, and to pay any fines or fees associated with your dog having been at large. Once this has been done, the municipality or the Animal Control Officer will give us the authorization to release the dog to your custody. We cannot release a dog without the authorization of the municipality or of the Animal Control Officer. What happens to dogs if they are not claimed by their owner? The law requires that stray dogs be held for three business days. If a dog is unclaimed after this time, it becomes available for adoption. The dogs are usually transferred to the OSPCA or to another reputable rescue organization. On occasion, the person who found the dog expresses an interest in adopting it, in which case, arrangements are made through the Animal Control Officer. We don’t generally adopt dogs directly from our facility as we do not have the resources to screen potential adopters thoroughly, however, we will occasionally adopt dogs to clients that we know well. It is our policy that we will make arrangements for ALL adoptable animals to find good homes. We DO NOT euthanize animals simply because their holding period has expired, and we do not sell unclaimed animals for research.