Amid Sonoma County wildfires, one group uses social media to reunite pets and their families

Still missing your pet? A team of volunteers has been collecting reports of lost and found animals, working around the clock to help connect families with their pets.|

If you're missing a pet

If you're missing your Sonoma or Napa pet, check with Sonoma & Napa Fires Missing and Found Pets on Facebook, or call/text 707-349-6005.

WHAT THEY DO:

Community-based, grass roots effort

- For photo albums click here

Hundreds of lost, found, and roaming pets are posted and albums are updated every day.

? MATCHING: The team will look for matching postings, and notify you.

? CONNECTED TO RESCUE: People doing rescue in burn zones are posting pictures and updating the team.

? FIND PETS BEING FOSTERED by Good Samaritans - they may only be posted on Facebook.

? UNIFIED EFFORT: No need to be overwhelmed by keeping track of numerous links.

? EXPERIENCED TEAM

? FLYERS: The team prints and distributes flyers of your postings to key locations.

More info: pd2go.net/FireMissingFoundPets

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Read all of the PD's fire coverage here

UPDATE: There are more than 400 pets looking for their owners as of Friday, November 3, 2017, check out our updated gallery above if you recognize any of these cuties. The status of these pets is continuously changing, so please visit Sonoma & Napa Fires Missing and Found Pets to see up-to-date pet statuses.

As Sonoma County moves toward recovery in this wildfire disaster, one team is working to help a specific group of fire victims - pets who were separated from their humans.Sonoma & Napa Fires Missing and Found Pets have been working around the clock, putting together databases of reports for lost or found pets, and matching their information with other leads or reports in their efforts to reunite families with lost animals. At present, the group has reports of 95 found cats and 82 found dogs who still need help finding their family, and they have filed reports of 156 lost cats and 7 lost dogs. The databases include animals who are in shelters, along with many who are being fostered by volunteers and members of the community.

The team behind the Facebook group

The group was started by Kristina Derkos of San Francisco, who quickly recruited Signe Nielsen, Shahna Cole, Denise Feehan, Tai Bruce, Dizzy Mcalear, and Tajali Smith as fellow group administrators. pd2go.net/FireMissingFoundPets.

As the group works to reunite families and their pets, they're worried about the animal owners who have no idea something like this exists, and have given up hope of finding their pet.

“We are concerned that many people do not have Facebook, or even if they do, they do not think to use Facebook as a tool to track down their pet,” Smith said.

If you have lost your pet, you can file a Lost Pet report with this group so that volunteers can search for potential matches. You can also search through the group's photo database. Because the group's volunteers are in several different time zones, the listings are consistently maintained and updated.

We have gathered some of the group's photos above. To see the full database, visit the group at

If you're missing a pet

If you're missing your Sonoma or Napa pet, check with Sonoma & Napa Fires Missing and Found Pets on Facebook, or call/text 707-349-6005.

WHAT THEY DO:

Community-based, grass roots effort

- For photo albums click here

Hundreds of lost, found, and roaming pets are posted and albums are updated every day.

? MATCHING: The team will look for matching postings, and notify you.

? CONNECTED TO RESCUE: People doing rescue in burn zones are posting pictures and updating the team.

? FIND PETS BEING FOSTERED by Good Samaritans - they may only be posted on Facebook.

? UNIFIED EFFORT: No need to be overwhelmed by keeping track of numerous links.

? EXPERIENCED TEAM

? FLYERS: The team prints and distributes flyers of your postings to key locations.

More info: pd2go.net/FireMissingFoundPets

_____

Read all of the PD's fire coverage here

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