Online app aims for lost animals to reunite with their owners as quickly as possible

Database for missing pets

A new high tech way to help track down your lost pet. FOX 13's Heather Healy reports.

MEMPHIS, Fla. - Manatee County Animal Welfare has created an app to help people reconnect with their lost pets as quickly as possible.

It’s an interactive lost and found pet app that has three unique functions: reporting a lost pet, reporting a found pet and using the interactive map.

Big picture view:

Whether it is a cat, dog, rabbit, bird and so on, you can see where these missing animals are in real-time. If you need to report a missing animal or if you find one, you can fill out a form online and upload a picture. 

That and microchipping helps out the most. The goal is for all of these pets to be reunited with their owners. Michael Strollo with Manatee County says this is huge for the area and helping solve a big problem.

"We utilize a system called Chameleon. It's very well known in the shelter world, and essentially, that helps us track our animals. It tracks intake, tracks medical. But essentially what we're doing now is any time somebody manually uploads a pet that was lost and found, that information goes to our staff at Manatee County Animal Welfare. And then we can take that information and upload it to our lost and found pet finder. And so that information can include like a digital pin of the exact address," Strollo said.

You can zoom in on that pin, and it will literally pinpoint the exact location of that animal, where that animal was lost or found. It also has an icon. The icon will show what type of animal it was.

READ: Measles in Florida: 2 cases confirmed in Tampa Bay area out of 3 reported in state

What they're saying:

The app only launched a month ago and Strollo says the feedback has been all positive, especially with one particular feature on this app.

"I really think the greatest feedback that we've received is the photo element," Strollo said. "A lot of the times, it's so funny that photos, there are a lot of animals that are similar, but if you're a pet owner, you know your pet just by a photo. I know I can look at a photo and be like, yeah, I know that's my cat."

What you can do:

Click here to learn more about Chameleon.