If you have lost your pet or found someone else’s lost pet, please call us IMMEDIATELY at 540-434-5270. (Please do not rely on email for timely reporting of your loss.) Be prepared to provide the following information when reporting your missing pet or a pet you have found:
1. Your name and the phone number where you can be reached quickly
2. Date the pet was last seen (or found)
3. The address where the pet was last seen
4. Pet’s name
5. Age of the pet
6. A physical description of the pet. Please include anything that would make it stand out against similar pets (special markings, etc).
7. Is your pet a male or female? Is he/she spayed/neutered?
8. Was he/she wearing a collar? If so, please describe its appearance.
9. Were there tags on the collar? What type? (rabies, name/phone, etc.)
10. Is your pet micro-chipped?
Stray Hold Requirement and Procedures
All stray pets are required to be held for a period of time to see if their rightful owner comes forward. That period of time is determined by VA Code 3.2-6546.
VA Code 3.2-6546 C: “An animal confined pursuant to this section shall be kept for a period of not less than five days, such period to commence on the day immediately following the day the animal is initially confined in the facility, unless sooner claimed by the rightful owner thereof.
The operator or custodian of the public animal shelter shall make a reasonable effort to ascertain whether the animal has a collar, tag, license, tattoo, or other form of identification. If such identification is found on the animal, the animal shall be held for an additional five days, unless sooner claimed by the rightful owner. If the rightful owner of the animal can be readily identified, the operator or custodian of the shelter shall make a reasonable effort to notify the owner of the animal’s confinement within the next 48 hours following its confinement.
If any animal confined pursuant to this section is claimed by its rightful owner, such owner may be charged with the actual expenses incurred in keeping the animal impounded. In addition to this and any other fees that might be levied, the locality may, after a public hearing, adopt an ordinance to charge the owner of an animal a fee for impoundment and increased fees for subsequent impoundments of the same animal.”
VA Code 3.2-6546 G: “Nothing in this section shall prohibit any feral dog or feral cat not bearing a collar, tag, tattoo, or other form of identification that, based on the written statement of a disinterested person, exhibits behavior that poses a risk of physical injury to any person confining the animal, from being euthanized after being kept for a period of not less than three days, at least one of which shall be a full business day, such period to commence on the day the animal is initially confined in the facility, unless sooner claimed by the rightful owner. The statement of the disinterested person shall be kept with the animal as required by 3.2-6557. For purposes of this subsection, a disinterested person shall not include a person releasing or reporting the animal.”
The Rockingham-Harrisonburg SPCA acts as an impoundment facility for the city and county. Any animals retrieved by animal control officers or the sheriff’s department are brought to the shelter.
Please stop by the shelter to look for your pet. Remember, you are the only one who can recognize your own pet. If you have a picture, please drop it by or email it to us at info@rhspca.org. When emailing your photo, please be sure to state whether or not you have called in a report.
When you come to reclaim your pet, please bring your proof of rabies vaccination and city or county tags with you.
Rockingham-Harrisonburg SPCA 