Holly, Angel & Many More

Reunited and It Feels So Good
Animal lover connects lost dogs with their people without leaving her home
By Cathy Scott, Best Friends staff writer
May 13, 2010, 4:59PM MT

Mari Levine has a daily ritual. Early each morning, she grabs her coffee and heads for her computer. That’s where she reunites lost dogs with their families.

Levine, who lives in Watsonville, Calif., has done the same thing for the last four years, reading “lost” online ads, such as craigslist and Petfinder, and matching them with “found” dogs listed on area shelters’ websites.

Like the other day, when she read an online ad, with photo, about a “black female dog, very curly with little white fur on her chest and front paw” who was missing. She went straight to the website of a local shelter.

There, she found a poodle mix who looked like she’d been through the ringer but still resembled the photo of the family’s dog. Levine was 99-percent sure she was the family’s missing canine. So, she called the number from the ad to let the family know where to pick up their dog. She provided them with the dog’s shelter ID, the phone number, address and hours of the shelter. Then, “I follow up to make sure the dog is picked up,” she said.

The same thing happened a day later after Levine read an online ad about Holly, another missing dog. Sure enough, Levine went to the shelter site and found Holly by matching a description and photo. From their ad, she sent the family an e-mail with a subject line that read, “Your lost dog Holly is at the shelter!”

The same day, Mari received the following e-mail from the family, who had retrieved Holly.

“She is our world,” the wife wrote. “Thank you so much for the time and effort that you have shown. It is really nice and refreshing. She was safely found. So happy! Thanks again!”

That kind of e-mail makes Levine’s day. She began this reuniting process when she realized too many people often aren’t aware that animal shelters exist and don't know where to look for their lost animals.

“These dogs are sitting in a kennel at the shelter waiting for their owner, who doesn’t even know about the shelter,” she said.

In another case, when she found a Siberian husky mix at the shelter, she called a “lost” ad. The person on the other end asked, “Who is this?” When Levine told her, the woman said, “Mari, it’s Vickie.” Levine had taken music lessons from her but hadn’t seen her in 15 years. She, too, was reunited with Kado, her husky.

Then there was a recent case involving Angel, a tiny tan-and-brown Chihuahua mix with medical issues who’d accidentally gotten lost while vacationing in California with her people. The family placed an online ad. Levine was at her computer to see that ad too.

“My family and I sincerely appreciate your consideration in helping us reunite with our little Angel,” said the “thank you” from the dog’s person. “She’s getting additional medical attention. We just wanted to let you know that your actions make us proud, knowing that people out there care. Although Angel is a dog, she’s like family to us. Thank you for bringing our family home. Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

The woman was so inspired by Levine’s actions that she told Levine she was going to do the same thing back home in Texas and match “lost” ads with shelter animals.

Levine hasn’t tackled reuniting cats with their people, but she doesn’t rule it out. "I love all animals," she said, including Emma, her 13-year-old rescued dog.

Levine’s one-person reunion service is probably contributing more good than she realizes, said Kristi Littrell, manager of Best Friends’ Adoptions department.

“The service she is doing for not only the homeless animals of her community but also the heartbroken owners of these animals is amazing,” said Littrell. “One person can indeed make all the difference in an animal’s life.”

And that, Levine said, is exactly why she does it, one canine at a time: “These dogs are all home now. It only takes 15 minutes a day.”

Source: http://network.bestfriends.org/golocal/california/15350/news.aspx