Folks remaining behind at the church offered to watch over Baron.  He was kept in a fenced playground behind the church with the others.  Baron was later picked up by rescuers when Rita was approaching.  I suspect he went through Lamar.  Ultimately on or about September 30th, 2005 he arrived in Arizona at the Arizona Humane Society. 

Baron's family has been searching for him ever since. They submitted a lost pet report onto petfinder (PF38240) in September.  Please see copy below.  Like so many others they had minimal computer access and little computer knowledge. Fortunately many volunteers have assisted along the way with offers of help to locate their beloved boy. 

Amy and Sonny attended the Best Friends event in mid December.  They were able to retrieve a photo of Baron from their home and locate his shot tag certificate.  This information was taken to the event and the volunteers updated his lost petfinder report to include his photo and shot tag number information.  These changes to his petfinder record were made on December 17th, 2005. 

Unfortunately up until last week no-one was able to locate Barons found pet report on petfinder.  Arizona Humane entered him into the petfinder database on or about September 30th, 2005 and again on October 1st 2005. 

He has two found reports which appear to be identical.  They are PF43585 and PF45081.  Unfortunately when Barons found pet report was entered into petfinder by the folks at Arizona Humane, they did not enter his "last known location" being Chalmette into the proper database field.  They entered the found location into the description field only.  This was the reason why it was so difficult to find Baron on the petfinder database.  I will further explain…

Assuming I am the pet owner, Barons last known location was Chalmette.  Following the instructions on petfinder those searching would enter zip code 70043, or enter Chalmette, LA as last known location of pet into the proper search engine field provided on the database.

The petfinder database then retrieves rescue reports for those animals reported as being found in zip code 70043 and/or Chalmette, LA.  Those matches are retrieved by the database first for viewing.  After that the database would then begin to expand its search and continue to retrieve matching reports from the surrounding towns such as Arabi, St Bernard, Meraux, Violet, etc.

Then it would continue to search found reports beyond those borders as well.  When a found pet report is entered into the petfinder database with the entry for "last known location" left blank, these found pet reports are extracted for viewing at the very, very end of an owners search making it nearly impossible to find.  This would explain why it was so incredibly difficult for everyone to retrieve his found pet report.

Needless to say now that Baron has been located, Amy and Sonny want him home.  When the volunteers located his found pet report last week on petfinder, Amy and Sonny were immediately contacted.  Sonny then called Arizona Humane. 

Arizona Humane confirmed by the shot tag numbers that indeed this was Baron.  The shelter told Sonny that Baron had been adopted on or about December 15th, 2005 and that it was not their policy to call once adopted.  The family was heartbroken.  One of the volunteers assisting the family also called the shelter to offer a reference regarding Barons family and to explain the circumstances. 

 Ultimately they heard her out and then wanted to know why it had taken so long for his family to find him. That question asked simply amazes me!  At that point the volunteers and Baron's family asked me to contact Arizona Humane on their behalf.  Initially I reached one of the shelter employees named Sheila, she then forwarded the information to Rob, her superior.  He then called and was briefed on the situation as well. 

He then explained that he must forward the information to his superior, Jill.  She called later that day being Thursday of last week, January 19th.  I explained to her how difficult it had been to find Baron on the petfinder database due to the entry errors mentioned above.  I also explained to her how much he was loved and is desperately missed by the Borne family.  I asked that she please speak to the adopted family and explain the situation to them.  She agreed to call the family that evening. 

Jill called me back the next day stating that the family "slept on it" and has decided to keep Baron, also stating that he had bonded with their three other dogs.  She went on to say that Barons family could be assured that he has a good home, etc.

Needless to say the Borne family like so many others are absolutely devastated.  Would you please consider helping this family by calling the Arizona Humane Shelter?  Their telephone number is 602.997.7586.  Contact person is Jill Vantuyl.  Barons found petfinder report numbers are PF43585 and PF45081. I have copied them below.  You will note there is no last known location listed for either one.  I also have copied Barons lost petfinder report PF38240. 

Anything you could do regarding this sweet boy would be greatly appreciated. 

Kind regards,
Susan