Journey home: Shelters reconnect people with lost pets after 4th of July

A proper Independence Day celebration requires a lot of noise, but while fireworks are fun for people, they tend to freak pets out. The days following July 4th are some of the busiest days of the year at the Twin Falls Animal Shelter , as people look to reunite with pets that skedaddled during the commotion.

• Fees are waived through the weekend for pet owners reclaiming lost dogs or cats following the 4th of July.
• Microchips are one of the fastest ways to get reconnected with your pet.
• At the start of Friday morning, there were fewer animals turned in to the shelter than previous years, but the shelter expects traffic to be brisk for a few days.

( Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)

“The kids were calling for the dogs, and then last night after the fireworks they were like 'mom please keep checking don't give up,’” Jasmyn Steel told me.

Steel and her kids were overjoyed to learn their family's pet dogs, Willow and Ida, were among those brought to the People for Pets Twin Falls Animal Shelter, spooked by those loud 4th of July fireworks.

I asked her how she found out her dogs were at the shelter.

“I had posted on the Twin Falls page, and then this morning I woke up and the animal shelter had responded, saying they had them here,” Steel said.

“In terms of animals running frightened, yes, it is the busiest time of the year,” shelter director Debbie Blackwood told Idaho News 6.

By Friday morning eleven dogs had been turned in, a low number compared to past years.

"There's been some years in the last four or five years that we've had as many as 58 in the same time slot,” Blackwood said.

That number will likely climb, as people — like Eli and Liberty Balmer — turn in dogs they've found running loose or hiding

“Coming home from the firework show last night and saw him running over there by the Maverick. He, hopped in the car right away and took home. We made a post last night,” Eli said.

Fees to reclaim lost pets will be waived through the weekend, and the shelter regularly offers discounts on micro-chipping,

Timmy here was reunited with his owner Penny, thanks to a microchip

“They called me this morning and let me know if they had them because he was chipped,” Penny said. “And I'm so grateful, because we're visiting, he doesn't know his way around or anything.”

Penny is visiting from out of town and thought her dog Timmy was under her bed all night.

“I was telling (Timmy) the other day, 'what would i ever do without you?'"