San Antonio’s ACS adds facial recognition tool to website to help reunite families with lost pets

Friday marks National Lost Dog and Cat Awareness Day

File image.

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio’s Animal Care Services is adding a new tool to its website to help families reconnect with lost pets.

The city-run shelter announced Friday that it is partnering with Petco Love in the searchable, national database that uses facial recognition technology.

Recommended Videos



The Petco Love Lost tool uses uploaded photos of cats and dogs and determines if they are in a participating shelter or with someone who took the animal in.

“There’s nothing more rewarding than reuniting families with their beloved pets and we’re confident the Petco Love Lost database can help foster more of those happy reunions here in San Antonio,” ACS Director of Operations Bethany Colonnese said. “That’s why we want to make it easily accessible.”

A link to Petco Love Lost can be found on the shelter’s website here.

Colonnese encourages anyone who has lost a pet to use the tool.

ACS also has a Facebook group called the Lost and Found Pet Network where people share images of pets in shelters in an effort to reunite them with their families.

The shelter debuted the tool to mark National Lost Dog and Cat Awareness Day.

Read also:


About the Author

Rebecca Salinas is an award-winning digital journalist who joined KSAT in 2019. She reports on a variety of topics for KSAT 12 News.

Recommended Videos