A social media group of more than 2,000 members has become a beacon of hope for residents looking for a lost pet.
The Farmville Area Lost Pets (VA) Facebook page has helped countless residents of Farmville and nearby locations find their lost animals or reunite found pets with their owners. The group has touched the lives of hundreds of local residents and their furry friends.
Sherry Wombough Rockhill, a Prince Edward County resident and administrator of the group’s Facebook page, moved to Virginia in 1990. Rockhill previously volunteered in New Jersey’s Monmouth County SPCA when she was only 9 years old.
“I would get off the bus there and help clean the cages and feed the animals and go for walks,” she said during an interview on Tuesday 3rd August.
Although she now runs the site, Rockhill wasn’t the group’s founder. The Farmville Area Lost Pets group was founded in December 2014 by a woman named Mary Smith Black. Black started the site after her niece’s cat went missing and she realized that there was no local social media group to help find missing animals.
“After creating a lost cat page, we now have over 2,000 members,” said Rockhill.
For more than six years, locals have been using Farmville Area Lost Pets to post about lost animals or to get in touch with the owners of some released pets. Rockhill also uses the site to post public service announcements and safety reminders about animal care and pet protection Extreme weather, fireworks, etc.
The site is overseen by local animal welfare authorities who, in some cases, check in and provide tips, and the group maintains rules for protecting found pets, such as: B. the prohibition of selling or giving away animals on the site. If a dog or cat is found and needs help finding a new home after a stray hold time has expired, the site allows a post to help find a new owner for the animal.
Rockhill maintains contact with the Prince Edward County Animal Welfare Agency and drives to the shelter almost every day to check on the animals there. She also works to post messages on various shelter and animal control sites to find owners of any pets that have been found.
The site has written numerous success stories over the years.
Page member Samantha Johnson said her grandmother’s dog, a 6-year-old pit bull / lab mix named Hunter, went missing in Green Bay from December 2020 to March this year after walking too far up the street and getting lost.
Johnson said she woke up from a nap one day to discover someone posted a picture of Hunter on the Farmville Area Lost Pets page.
“I thought I was dreaming,” she exclaimed. “We took Hunter to Grandma’s house that night. She was so amazed and happy. “
“I heard about the Facebook page from a friend a few years ago and saw so many fur babies reunited with their families,” added Johnson.
Erica Bryant, a Cumberland County resident, said her Hershey chocolate lab ran away while she was being followed by relatives in Farmville.
After Bryant had been a member of the Farmville Area Lost Pets page since 2019 and saw others succeed with the group’s help, the page was Bryant’s first stop.
After a week, she received a notification that Hershey had been found in the Green Bay area.
“I never thought I’d take my search for him this far from where he was missing,” she said. “I always share the site’s posts in the hope that others can be reunited with their lost pets, just as I was.”
Stephen Morgeson Jr., also of Cumberland County, used the site not only to find his own lost animals, but also to track down the owners of pets he found at large. He said his dogs, the husky hybrid Odin, the 3 year old husky mix Rayne, the 6 year old German shepherd mix Femshep, and the shepherd hybrid Freya, have a tendency to leave the fence.
“They were always brought home thanks to the Facebook group … I had several dogs that wandered into my garden and found their home thanks to the Facebook group,” he added.
Prince Edward’s three dogs, Kimberly Waddell, Maya, Diesel and Chronic, went missing a few years ago after leaving the property together. She said someone spotted the dogs and shared a photo on the Facebook page. The post was shared across the site, and Waddell was able to track their fur babies by their last known location four days after they disappeared.
“They were happy as always,” she commented. “I don’t know how to thank people enough. Dogs are not dogs. They are a family. ”
Rockhill, an animal lover, said she personally looks for animals that are listed as missing and works with trapped strays in hopes of reuniting the animals with her family.
While the site is full of success stories, it also plays an important role in bringing people to graduation whose furry friends will never return home.
“Unfortunately not all owners are found and not all animals survive their adventures away from home,” she said.
Rockhill said site members often stop when they see a deceased animal to check the collar and contact local authorities to check the animal for a microchip. Members also inform others about the animal’s death on the Facebook page.
“Because of this, families can close when they know what happened to their pet,” she said.
Rockhill, who currently has an 11 pound dachshund, Squirt, who believes she is actually a 100 pound pit bull, has found a worthwhile way to serve her community by helping run the site. Your work also made for some interesting stories.
“My most memorable story is about a stray, adult pit bull woman that took me four and a half months to complete,” she recalls. “We chased her over our side of Giles Road on Route 307 in Rice and ended up catching her with a humane trap behind the Shorter Funeral Home in Farmville by Walmart. She went to the Prince Edward County Animal Shelter and waited there for her stray stop. Then Richmond SPCA came to the shelter to raise some dogs to put up for adoption and she was one of them.
“Shortly after arriving in Richmond SPCA, she was adopted by a family who also adopted a black and white kitten that same day. They posted a video of her playing with the kitten in her new home with her tail wagging a mile a minute, so happy and relaxed. I have to admit that I cried so many tears of joy while watching the video. “
Rockhill followed up Tuesday’s interview with some friendly tips for those who lost a pet in the area.
“Contact animal control and all animal shelters and veterinarians in your county and in all neighboring counties,” she advised. “It doesn’t matter if your pet has only been missing for a few hours. Animals can travel long distances and someone can also pick them up. “
If you’ve lost a pet, Rockhill says, it’s a good idea to leave out unwashed clothing that wears your odor, as well as any bedding the pet sleeps on, or, if you’ve lost a cat, skip the litter box. The smell of the familiar object can attract a pet home.
If your pet has a microchip, it is important to contact the chip company and ensure that your pet’s registration is up to date with current phone numbers and contact information.
Those who have lost a pet should consider printing out flyers with information about the pet, including pictures of the lost pet. The pawboost.com and lostmydoggie.com websites offer free services that pet owners can use, including creating and mailing flyers to inform about missing pets.
“Once you’ve printed out the flyers, make sure they are distributed in as many places as possible,” recommended Rockhill. “Post them at intersections, gas stations, pet stores, vets, animal shelters, grocery stores – anywhere you can post them. Also put a flyer for your postman in the mailbox, because he is on the road all day and in your area. “
Rockhill added that it is a good idea to contact your local radio station and newspaper to place an ad about a missing animal. You can also contact your local Department of Transportation for a flyer. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is responsible for picking up deceased animals on the roadside.
“God forbid your pet will be beaten and killed, it would be the ones who would pick it up and they could notify you.”
Rockhill also advised if you have kids at school asking them to give the school bus driver a flyer who could hang the flyer in the bus station office so all bus drivers can see the photo of the missing animal.
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