Pet owners know there is nothing as heartbreaking as when a pet is lost or missing. Thanks to advances in technology and apps like the Citizen app searching for your lost pet has become a lot easier. Citizen App and its Protect Agents are able to notify users, sending alerts in real-time about missing pets. These alerts can go out faster than it would take to make a missing pet poster.
The Citizen App is helping find lost pets from coast to coast. The New York Police Department’s 32nd Precinct used Twitter to show its appreciation for the Citizen app. They tweeted “GREAT NEWS! Doug the puppy was happily reunited with its owner last night at the 32nd Pct. Thank you @CitizenApp for assisting in getting this cute puppy back to its rightful owner and thank you to everyone who retweeted!”
In Los Angeles, the Citizen community worked together to find another missing pet. In September, Daniel Martinez couldn’t find his small white Maltese Shih Tzu named Scrappy. Panicking, he realized the 2-year-old dog might have escaped through his front gate. Daniel searched his San Fernando Valley neighborhood but wasn’t having any luck locating his young dog.
After a few hours of searching and having no luck, Daniel was feeling like he was running out of options to find his dog. That’s when he reached for his phone and decided to see if Citizen could help. He called his Protect Agent to see if there was a way he could get the community to keep an eye out for Scrappy.
With the help of the dog’s description, photo and last known location that Daniel provided, David’s Protect Agent created a public incident on Citizen. This notified certain Citizen app users within David’s area of the missing dog. Within minutes, the app alerted several thousand users within a 2-mile radius. Not long after, there was a sighting of his dog.
A Citizen user named ‘Staysafe1027’ responded to the alert with a message: “Saw the dog two hours ago between Carl and Van Nuys in Arleta.” David was able to communicate with the ‘Staysafe1027’’user within the app, who spotted Scrappy and was able to confirm that the dog responded to his name.
In the end, a much-relieved Daniel and Scrappy had a joyous reunion only 2 blocks from their home. “I’m so grateful that my Protect Agent and the Citizen community helped bring Scrappy home,” Daniel said. This was the 10th missing pet the Citizen community has helped bring home during the month of September.
Citizen App also has been successful in finding children and loved ones that have been reported missing. One Citizen app user @antkneebee on Twitter described one reunion: “Wow I just watched a live broadcast on Citizen searching for a missing girl in the Bronx and everyone came together and found her. It was truly amazing to watch unfold. Glad that she’s home safe!”
Wondering how it works? The Citizen App opens up the emergency response system to the public. By monitoring 911 activity and referencing the exact location of users’ phones, the App provides real-time data and information to users to help keep themselves and their communities safe. All alerts are screened and filtered by the Citizen team to create vetted and fact-checked alerts.
For added layers of protection, users can upgrade their account to a monthly subscription that is essentially your private helpline. The subscription gives Citizen users 27/7 access to Protect Agents via video, audio, or text in case of emergencies.
If you are ever searching for a missing pet, or even a loved one, you can use Citizen Protect to ask your local community for help. The Citizen App has been used more than a dozen times to find missing pets since the app first launched. To learn more about the app and its safety features, read more here.
