I have been absolutely knocked off my feet to discover this morning that some animal rescues wait as little as SEVEN DAYS before re-homing lost animals. This is utterly disgraceful.

I have created this petition to plead to our prime minister and rescue centres across the UK to end this madness. I am asking them to enforce a "minimum wait" period of at least 30 days before they can consider re-homing animals that come into their centres who are lost or have no information on their owner. (This enforcement does not apply to animals who are freely given up by their owners or taken in as mistreatment cases.) Lost pets are loved ones, they are missed and loved by their families and I'm sure that they love and miss their families too. If you were to find a child lost and scared you wouldn't sign them off to a new family so quickly would you? 

People need more time when searching for their lost pets before they are re-homed. It can be difficult to get the message out there, especially for people who do not have access to social media and other communication platforms. 

In some cases dogs and cats have been reunited with their families months and even years after they first went missing. I read recently a story of a lady who lost her great dane, and when she caught up with his whereabouts he had been found and taken to a rescue only to be re-homed almost instantly and that his new family would not give him back as they too had become fond of him! 

Please sign this petition and end this nonsense. Imagine you yourself going through the heartbreak and uncertainty of losing a member of your family, only to discover that they had been re-homed and that the hope of them being returned had been lost forever. I only require 100 signatures to take action on this, but the more the merrier and hopefully if we can get enough signatures this will send a resounding message to the government and animal rescue centres accross the UK that this has to stop!

Below is a link to an article in the Daily Mail detailing the story of a woman who's lost puppy was re-homed just seven days after being handed over to a local council, her puppy is now with a new family and will never be reunited with his/her original owners. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2321988/Mothers-fury-council-refuse-runaway-dog-rehomed-just-weeks-went-missing.html