Pet Theft Awareness Day is a holiday designed to call attention to the ever-growing problem of pet thefts and to remind pet owners that they need to use pet identification methods to help safeguard their pets against theft.

Every year, millions of pets go missing in the United States, and it seems like the number of stolen pets just keeps rising every year. That’s why pet owners need to be proactive and work towards keeping their pets safe. Fortunately, this holiday reminds us all to do just that so that we can keep our pets by our side for a very, very long time.

The History of Pet Theft Awareness Day

Chris DeRose is an American actor who appeared as a regular on many different television shows, including The Rockford Files, Baretta, General Hospital, CHiPs, and Cagney & Lacey. He is also an animal rights activist, the recipient of the 1997 Courage of Conscience International Peace Award, and the creator of the organization Last Chance for Animals.

This nonprofit ended up creating Pet Theft Awareness Day way back in 1988. As the name of this holiday suggests, it was designed to raise the public’s awareness about the problem of pet thefts so that pet owners can take the necessary measures to protect their pets.

Some Facts About Pet Theft

Below are some of the things that we learned about pet theft and would like to now share with everyone reading this holiday article. Before we came across the following factoids, we didn’t realize just how prevalent pet theft was or how diabolical it could be. So we think that the following points will open a lot of pet owners’ eyes.

• Over 2 million pets are stolen in the U.S. every year.
• Purebred dogs are the most common victims of pet theft, but any dog can be stolen.
• Pets that haven’t been spayed or neutered are sometimes stolen so they can be shipped to puppy mills for breeding.
• Sometimes, thieves will steal a pet and then wait for a reward to be posted. They then collect the reward for that animal.

Observing Pet Theft Awareness Day

One of the first things that all pet owners should do on this day is to make sure that their pets are marked with identification. This includes a marked collar with tags that feature the name of the pet, and the address and telephone number of its owner.

It can also mean getting a microchip inserted into the pet’s skin. Another thing that pet owners can do is to make sure the gates to their yards are locked and that closed-circuit television cameras are installed. Gate alarms can also help protect pets from thieves.