Parsons, 4-year-old terrier mix, reunited with Wading River owner with help from Sheriff’s ‘Lost Pet Network’

The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office isn’t just about putting people in jail.

It’s also reuniting lost pets with their families. 

The sheriff’s “Lost Pet Network” reunited a Wading River family’s lost dog Tuesday within 10 hours of the dog being reported missing, according to the sheriff’s office. With the community’s help, the Sheriff’s Pet Network helped to locate and safely returned “Parson,” a 4-year-old terrier mix, to his family. 

The Lost Pet Network places notices on the sheriff’s social media page, along with a description of the dog.

Parson was reported missing Tuesday morning in Wading River. In the early evening, the Sheriff’s Office received a call that the dog had been found. 

“I am glad to see that the Sheriff’s Lost Pet Network is proving to be a success and with the help of the community, we were able to locate Parson in just a few hours,” Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. said in a media release. “It is my hope that we can continue to be the pipeline to reunite animals with their owners.” 

Sheriff Toulon launched the first ever “Lost Pet Network” in May. It provides participating owners with a printed pet identification card, and adds enrolled pets to a database to help track and locate them, utilizing social media and deputy sheriffs, the sheriff said.

Since its inception, hundreds of Suffolk residents have enrolled their pets in the network, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Residents can enroll in the network for free on the Sheriff’s Office’s website.  

The collected information about the pet is stored on a secure database, which helps the Sheriff’s Office alert the appropriate stakeholders if a pet goes missing.