Precautions When Using Cameras

Recently, a dog that I was involved in the search for was found, by sightings and by a search dog, to be traveling accross a small piece of property that happened to belong to the town. It was outside the fence of the public works building. There was a spot that was perfect for a feeding station, and we strapped one of our cameras to a tree.

The camera was there for close to a week before it disappeared.

Some days afterwards, we were emailed by a neighbor living near where the feeding station was. It seems that someone from the town had gone in search of the camera owner, to tell them they could come pick up their camera from the police department. That neighbor knew how to contact us.

So I called the officer, and I was surprised to have him tell me that he needed me to give him the make and mode, and preferably the serial number, of the camera before he would release it to me.

Well, our group has a number of different cameras, and I didn't have any idea what camera was out there. Fortunately, someone in our group did know which camera was there, and she had its twin at home. She did need that to look up the make and model, and from it she also got the format of the serial number, in case that would help.

So, the lessons are, one, don't forget, as we did in that case, to put identification on a camera (such as strepping a business card on to it, and keep a record of the make, model and serial numbers -- just in case your camera is appropriated by a municipality!

The Worst Thing About Coyotes

Obviously, a dog, or any pet, being killed in a coyote attack would be about the worst thing that could happen to a missing pet.

But if you talk to a lot of people that spend their time searching for missing pets, the message that they will put out is that people giving up the search for their missing pets because they assume that they were killed by a coyote is the worst thing you can do.  Coyotes don't account for anywhere near the amount of domestic animal kills that many people believe.

As a pet detective, one of the best ways you can assist missing pet owners is to advise them about coyotes, and to avoid placing an inordinate amount of stock in the idea that they have killed a dog or a cat, if they start talking about it. Here's a little reading on the subject:

Danielle Robertson discusses Trends in Coyote Attacks on Dogs in her blog.

One of the best succinct pages I've found on the subject is on the website of Carmen, a clairvoyant and a pet detective. Even if she is questionable as a source because of her status as a clairvoyant, she does a good job of putting the message out there: The Truth About Coyotes

Also read Digging for the Truth on Coyotes to get a little background on how scientists figure out that coyotes don't necessarily eat cats and small dogs as often as so many people believe.