Lost Dogs of the Finger Lakes Search & Rescue
Donation protected
Whoa Nelly, what’s this about?
There is a dire need to purchase equipment to supply additional SAR (search & rescue) trapping teams and to distribute to our volunteers located throughout the Finger Lakes region to be able to respond quickly to dogs in need. Currently, our equipment is staged in northern Tompkins county which restricts the locations within the FLX that we are able to assist with humane trapping of lost or abandoned dogs and inhibits fast response times. We offer consultation, SAR and trapping services, flyer design with distribution maps, and pay to sponsor ads for missing dogs. All at no charge!
We have limited resources, full time jobs, and families. The sharing and transporting of equipment amount to long hours and many miles of driving for our volunteers with busy schedules. We put over 400 miles on our vehicles in the month of April alone traveling between trap and search sites. Our director is studying to become certified in Missing Animal Response and as a Pet Detective. She has also completed the HARTT Humane trapping workshop and attended tracking conferences. She has almost a decade of experience in recovering lost pets and studying lost pet behavior and trains our SAR and trapping teams. Training, certifications, and conferences are costly but paid for out of her pocket. Never by donations.
We are pleased to announce that our SAR (search and rescue) and humane trapping efforts are officially expanding! While we offer free consultation to all or part of the 14 counties within our coverage area, we are currently physically, limited to on-site assistance in 5 of those counties. Our teams have been on the ground in Tompkins, Cayuga, Cortland, Seneca, and (more recently) Schuyler Counties. 2021 has already been a busy year and we’re barely 5 months in.
We’re excited to officially welcome aboard Melissa and Rob Cole as our Schuyler County SAR team. Melissa and Rob, Schuyler natives, have been active for many years with animal rescue and are highly skilled in recovering lost & frightened dogs. They are well known in the community and have worked closely with Animal Control and the Humane Society of Schuyler County. Since July of last year, these extraordinary folks have been working with LDOTFL to add humane trapping to their toolkit and have worked to recover multiple lost dogs.
Too many times, dogs on the run have needed help but with the lack of enough equipment to share or time to transport it, we could only advise. Animal Control Officers, Dog Control Officers, Humane Society's, SPCA's, and other animal shelters do an amazing job and we have enjoyed working with them over the years, but we can do more to help them. Few people know that THE ONLY TRAP AVAILABLE to the Schuyler County community was STOLEN. Animal control is already stretched thin and does not have the budget to replace it. With your help, we can rectify this situation and aid a community in need.
Let’s get right down to the nitty gritty. What’s with the big price tag?
We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got, but we can do better and bring more dogs back home by adding to our toolbox. By building extremely hard to come by specialty traps we can become a resource in the Finger Lakes for a larger portion of our community and to our dog control officers who are in need of custom traps or box traps. Currently, there are only two custom built traps available in all of the Finger Lakes region to use with the giant breeds and dogs that will not enter a box trap. The sheer size, weight, and location of those traps make transporting and set up difficult. By also adding additional standard box traps to our inventory, we can divide them among teams who are based throughout the FLX for faster response to families in need.
Here’s what we need and why:
*Additional traps to outfit our teams around the FLX to be able to cover more area and reduce response times.
*Traps of various sizes including custom made traps for pups of all sizes temperaments, and fear levels. Many will not go into a box trap. Others won’t fit into the commercially available box traps.
*$350 for 2 XXXL Giant breed crates to convert to traps for the really big pups. If you have one of these crates that you don’t need, we’d love to have it!
https://www.amazon.com/Giant-Dog-Crate/s?k=Giant+Dog+Crate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCL13NEzKpY
*$440 Materials to build 2 Ray Trippers https://theretrievers.org/raytripper/
*$200 for 2 Deep cell marine batteries recommended by users of Ray Trippers in extreme cold. Others will lose power quickly in our winter temps.
*Tomahawk live trap XL 72"L– collapsible and saves on shipping costs. High quality, reliable, and last for many years unlike less expensive “coyote” traps.
https://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29823
*Tomahawk live trap L/M 60"L
https://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29822
*Tomahawk live trap S/M 48"L– collapsible and saves on shipping costs. High quality, reliable, and last for many years unlike less expensive “coyote” traps.
https://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29821
*$1,255 including shipping for three Tomahawk traps with wheel kits. (Includes our Lost Dog discount!)
*$320 Uptown Lucky Dog Kennel – we purchased one but need another to make a huge trap for the most difficult and fearful dogs who will not enter a box trap. The open and spacious “feeling” is used to desensitize them and lure them in.
https://www.chewy.com/lucky-dog-uptown-welded-wire-dog/dp/244163
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuyiGsqLVPs
*$600 FLIR – Thermal imaging camera. Believe it or not, it’s one of the least expensive on the market. We would like to have one to be able to search woodlands and dense vegetation for dogs who escape with their leashes attached. Often, even if a dog gets stuck or get snagged on vegetation, they will not bark to reveal their location to predators. Numerous dogs have gone missing in the FLX for long periods of time with leashes attached. This item could be lifesaving. This past winter, a dog in our area trailing a 40’ tie out, was found 5 days later wrapped around 3 trees and he never made a peep. He had not been sighted once and could have been snagged the entire time. Thankfully, he was found and survived. https://www.flir.com/products/scout-tk/
*$500 Spartan GoLive cam security kit– wireless, with GPS, allows for near real-time monitoring of active live traps and is imperative for the safety of the dog and wildlife. Nobody stays in the trap alone all night! Spartan cams, in our experience are the most reliable and come with extended range antennas. They have never failed us in the ravines or hills or remote agricultural lands. This model has an on demand live video stream to confirm that the trap has triggered. Too often, other trail cams failed to catch the moment the door is closed. The dog will not move around enough inside the trap to trigger the motion sensor and we run the risk of approaching the trap too soon if the dog is in the area but has not entered the trap yet. https://www.herd360.com/products/spartan-golive-att-complete-security-kit?variant=39364186734766
*$310 Spartan GoCam starter kit – wireless back-up camera. With multiple traps deployed we will need cams for each trap. This is solid and reliable cam that takes photos/video and comes with extended range antenna. In certain terrains, we need two cams to monitor live traps to see a larger area and better study the behavior of the lost dog. Knowing how they react to a trap or if they won’t approach it, let’s us change our strategy and decide whether to bring in a larger, custom trap before the dog moves out of an area.
https://spartancamera.com/products/gocam-starter-kit
*$90 Swivel mounts for trail cams. These are a game changer. Where once it took hours to get the right angle for the camera, it now takes minutes. If the cam is not set properly, it will not trigger. We know firsthand how tricky the cam set-up can be. We strive to get into a location, set up quickly and quietly, then get out when a dog is active near the trap location. We would like mounts for all of our cameras. Currently, we need 3 additional mounts.
https://www.herd360.com/products/heavy-duty-universal-swivel-bracket-for-trail-camera-security-boxes?variant=31457255875
*$850 per year - Data plans/subscriptions for trail cams. There are not a lot of options out there and we’ve done our homework to find the best deal. For the trail cams that we have currently, we’re paying close to $500 per year. We’re looking to add 2 more trail cams, one of which eats data like the racoons raiding our bait. (We have one of the new GoLive cams and it’s a hungry beast).
https://spartancamera.com/i/att/
*Snappy Snares – these are a great tool in securing fearful dogs who pull away from touch or a slip lead. Often used in combination with the assistance of another dog (magnet dog) to lure the unsure pup close enough to slip the snappy snare on quickly. Commonly used by animal control officers and rescuers.
https://www.animal-care.com/product/snappy-snare/
*Lithium batteries for trail cams. The only battery to use in extremely cold temperatures. Long lasting and worth every penny to ensure cameras are reliable at those critical moments. It’s all we use. Each cam requires 12 AA batteries.
https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Ultimate-Lithium-Batteries-Pack/dp/B01C4PP8FK?th=1
*SD Cards for trail cams. When we pull SD cards to review, they have to be formatted and re-formatted repeatedly. They become damaged and have to be replaced. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074PFHY7X?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details
*$72/case Liquid Smoke – dang the prices have shot up and we use a lot of this. We buy it by the case and found a great deal through Walmart. The go to ingredient for scent trail to lure a dog out of hiding and lead them to a trap or to their home.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Colgin-Natural-Mesquite-Liquid-Smoke-1-gal-Pack-of-4/17770379
*Wet cat food – our go to addition to scent trails. We blow through cases of this too. https://www.chewy.com/friskies-classic-pate-ocean-whitefish/dp/104083
*Canned Sardines – simply irresistible to lost dogs.
https://www.amazon.com/Ocean-Prince-Sardines-Water-Ounce/dp/B00JKM87RM/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=canned+sardines&qid=1619754141&rdc=1&sr=8-6
Well, that’s the short version and the main items we need help with! There are many other items on our wish list but let’s not get too long winded. Thank you in advance!
There is a dire need to purchase equipment to supply additional SAR (search & rescue) trapping teams and to distribute to our volunteers located throughout the Finger Lakes region to be able to respond quickly to dogs in need. Currently, our equipment is staged in northern Tompkins county which restricts the locations within the FLX that we are able to assist with humane trapping of lost or abandoned dogs and inhibits fast response times. We offer consultation, SAR and trapping services, flyer design with distribution maps, and pay to sponsor ads for missing dogs. All at no charge!
We have limited resources, full time jobs, and families. The sharing and transporting of equipment amount to long hours and many miles of driving for our volunteers with busy schedules. We put over 400 miles on our vehicles in the month of April alone traveling between trap and search sites. Our director is studying to become certified in Missing Animal Response and as a Pet Detective. She has also completed the HARTT Humane trapping workshop and attended tracking conferences. She has almost a decade of experience in recovering lost pets and studying lost pet behavior and trains our SAR and trapping teams. Training, certifications, and conferences are costly but paid for out of her pocket. Never by donations.
We are pleased to announce that our SAR (search and rescue) and humane trapping efforts are officially expanding! While we offer free consultation to all or part of the 14 counties within our coverage area, we are currently physically, limited to on-site assistance in 5 of those counties. Our teams have been on the ground in Tompkins, Cayuga, Cortland, Seneca, and (more recently) Schuyler Counties. 2021 has already been a busy year and we’re barely 5 months in.
We’re excited to officially welcome aboard Melissa and Rob Cole as our Schuyler County SAR team. Melissa and Rob, Schuyler natives, have been active for many years with animal rescue and are highly skilled in recovering lost & frightened dogs. They are well known in the community and have worked closely with Animal Control and the Humane Society of Schuyler County. Since July of last year, these extraordinary folks have been working with LDOTFL to add humane trapping to their toolkit and have worked to recover multiple lost dogs.
Too many times, dogs on the run have needed help but with the lack of enough equipment to share or time to transport it, we could only advise. Animal Control Officers, Dog Control Officers, Humane Society's, SPCA's, and other animal shelters do an amazing job and we have enjoyed working with them over the years, but we can do more to help them. Few people know that THE ONLY TRAP AVAILABLE to the Schuyler County community was STOLEN. Animal control is already stretched thin and does not have the budget to replace it. With your help, we can rectify this situation and aid a community in need.
Let’s get right down to the nitty gritty. What’s with the big price tag?
We’re doing the best we can with what we’ve got, but we can do better and bring more dogs back home by adding to our toolbox. By building extremely hard to come by specialty traps we can become a resource in the Finger Lakes for a larger portion of our community and to our dog control officers who are in need of custom traps or box traps. Currently, there are only two custom built traps available in all of the Finger Lakes region to use with the giant breeds and dogs that will not enter a box trap. The sheer size, weight, and location of those traps make transporting and set up difficult. By also adding additional standard box traps to our inventory, we can divide them among teams who are based throughout the FLX for faster response to families in need.
Here’s what we need and why:
*Additional traps to outfit our teams around the FLX to be able to cover more area and reduce response times.
*Traps of various sizes including custom made traps for pups of all sizes temperaments, and fear levels. Many will not go into a box trap. Others won’t fit into the commercially available box traps.
*$350 for 2 XXXL Giant breed crates to convert to traps for the really big pups. If you have one of these crates that you don’t need, we’d love to have it!
https://www.amazon.com/Giant-Dog-Crate/s?k=Giant+Dog+Crate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCL13NEzKpY
*$440 Materials to build 2 Ray Trippers https://theretrievers.org/raytripper/
*$200 for 2 Deep cell marine batteries recommended by users of Ray Trippers in extreme cold. Others will lose power quickly in our winter temps.
*Tomahawk live trap XL 72"L– collapsible and saves on shipping costs. High quality, reliable, and last for many years unlike less expensive “coyote” traps.
https://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29823
*Tomahawk live trap L/M 60"L
https://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29822
*Tomahawk live trap S/M 48"L– collapsible and saves on shipping costs. High quality, reliable, and last for many years unlike less expensive “coyote” traps.
https://www.livetrap.com/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=29821
*$1,255 including shipping for three Tomahawk traps with wheel kits. (Includes our Lost Dog discount!)
*$320 Uptown Lucky Dog Kennel – we purchased one but need another to make a huge trap for the most difficult and fearful dogs who will not enter a box trap. The open and spacious “feeling” is used to desensitize them and lure them in.
https://www.chewy.com/lucky-dog-uptown-welded-wire-dog/dp/244163
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuyiGsqLVPs
*$600 FLIR – Thermal imaging camera. Believe it or not, it’s one of the least expensive on the market. We would like to have one to be able to search woodlands and dense vegetation for dogs who escape with their leashes attached. Often, even if a dog gets stuck or get snagged on vegetation, they will not bark to reveal their location to predators. Numerous dogs have gone missing in the FLX for long periods of time with leashes attached. This item could be lifesaving. This past winter, a dog in our area trailing a 40’ tie out, was found 5 days later wrapped around 3 trees and he never made a peep. He had not been sighted once and could have been snagged the entire time. Thankfully, he was found and survived. https://www.flir.com/products/scout-tk/
*$500 Spartan GoLive cam security kit– wireless, with GPS, allows for near real-time monitoring of active live traps and is imperative for the safety of the dog and wildlife. Nobody stays in the trap alone all night! Spartan cams, in our experience are the most reliable and come with extended range antennas. They have never failed us in the ravines or hills or remote agricultural lands. This model has an on demand live video stream to confirm that the trap has triggered. Too often, other trail cams failed to catch the moment the door is closed. The dog will not move around enough inside the trap to trigger the motion sensor and we run the risk of approaching the trap too soon if the dog is in the area but has not entered the trap yet. https://www.herd360.com/products/spartan-golive-att-complete-security-kit?variant=39364186734766
*$310 Spartan GoCam starter kit – wireless back-up camera. With multiple traps deployed we will need cams for each trap. This is solid and reliable cam that takes photos/video and comes with extended range antenna. In certain terrains, we need two cams to monitor live traps to see a larger area and better study the behavior of the lost dog. Knowing how they react to a trap or if they won’t approach it, let’s us change our strategy and decide whether to bring in a larger, custom trap before the dog moves out of an area.
https://spartancamera.com/products/gocam-starter-kit
*$90 Swivel mounts for trail cams. These are a game changer. Where once it took hours to get the right angle for the camera, it now takes minutes. If the cam is not set properly, it will not trigger. We know firsthand how tricky the cam set-up can be. We strive to get into a location, set up quickly and quietly, then get out when a dog is active near the trap location. We would like mounts for all of our cameras. Currently, we need 3 additional mounts.
https://www.herd360.com/products/heavy-duty-universal-swivel-bracket-for-trail-camera-security-boxes?variant=31457255875
*$850 per year - Data plans/subscriptions for trail cams. There are not a lot of options out there and we’ve done our homework to find the best deal. For the trail cams that we have currently, we’re paying close to $500 per year. We’re looking to add 2 more trail cams, one of which eats data like the racoons raiding our bait. (We have one of the new GoLive cams and it’s a hungry beast).
https://spartancamera.com/i/att/
*Snappy Snares – these are a great tool in securing fearful dogs who pull away from touch or a slip lead. Often used in combination with the assistance of another dog (magnet dog) to lure the unsure pup close enough to slip the snappy snare on quickly. Commonly used by animal control officers and rescuers.
https://www.animal-care.com/product/snappy-snare/
*Lithium batteries for trail cams. The only battery to use in extremely cold temperatures. Long lasting and worth every penny to ensure cameras are reliable at those critical moments. It’s all we use. Each cam requires 12 AA batteries.
https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Ultimate-Lithium-Batteries-Pack/dp/B01C4PP8FK?th=1
*SD Cards for trail cams. When we pull SD cards to review, they have to be formatted and re-formatted repeatedly. They become damaged and have to be replaced. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074PFHY7X?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details
*$72/case Liquid Smoke – dang the prices have shot up and we use a lot of this. We buy it by the case and found a great deal through Walmart. The go to ingredient for scent trail to lure a dog out of hiding and lead them to a trap or to their home.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Colgin-Natural-Mesquite-Liquid-Smoke-1-gal-Pack-of-4/17770379
*Wet cat food – our go to addition to scent trails. We blow through cases of this too. https://www.chewy.com/friskies-classic-pate-ocean-whitefish/dp/104083
*Canned Sardines – simply irresistible to lost dogs.
https://www.amazon.com/Ocean-Prince-Sardines-Water-Ounce/dp/B00JKM87RM/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=canned+sardines&qid=1619754141&rdc=1&sr=8-6
Well, that’s the short version and the main items we need help with! There are many other items on our wish list but let’s not get too long winded. Thank you in advance!
Organizer
Charlene Mottler
Organizer
Lansing, NY