LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – Pets are precious members of our family, so when a family pet disappears, it can be devastating.
Luckily, families can reach out to pet detectives for help.
WHAS11's Gene Kang has the story of a real-life pet detective, who helps bring pets home.
Nancy Metcalf turned 50 this month, but that's not what's bugging her.
Her family pet, Baloo, is missing. The Siberian husky ran off in April from their new home. He slipped out of his collar near Grenfell Way in Louisville.
"It feels like there's a hole in our family," said Nancy.
The family posted signs and handed out flyers, offering a $100 reward.
After handing out hundreds of flyers, the family, out of desperation, checked out Metro Animal Services to see if their beloved Baloo was there.
The pound has 800 strays a month, more than 9,000 a year. 20 to 25 percent of dogs are returned to their owners, and one to two percent of cats. But Baloo was not one of these statistics.
So, the family kept looking.
While posting ads on Craig's List, they came across a pet detective.
Jim Berns is a pet detective who has been featured on the Disney Channel. On weekdays, he works as a woodshop teacher at the University of Cincinnati.
On weekends, Berns searches for lost pets around the U.S.
He’s had 150 cases in three years, including a Jeffersonville cat named Maverick that he found last summer.
LaCinda Glover owns Maverick.
"We had looked for four days on our own and honestly were not going to look that next day. We were just tired," she said.
The pet detective found Maverick 400 yards away from home in a sewage drain, a day after LaCinda's birthday.
"I'd say 20 to 30 percent of searches we're on,” Berns said, “We'll find the pet while we're there. Another 30 to 40 percent will show up in the next two or three days. We've had pets found up to five weeks."
Berns says one of three things could've happened to Baloo – the husky could have met an untimely death, is hiding in the woods, or, most probably, someone has picked the dog up and is living outside the family’s area. The pet detective encouraged Baloo’s owners not to give up hope.
A week after the family ended their search for Baloo, someone spotted him 30 miles away from home, in LaGrange, Kentucky.
The Oldham County Humane Society re-named him "Cruise" and put him up for adoption. Baloo was being used as a therapy dog for inmates at the Luther Luckett prison.
Nancy Metcalf was overjoyed to be reunited with her beloved Baloo.
"It's a pretty amazing program, but it's pretty upsetting to think our Baloo was in prison,” she said. “We had to break him out!"
Metro Animal Services says pet owners should implant their pet with a microchip and keep them on a leash and collar.
If you'd like to hire a pet detective, check references and ask their success rate.
