Terms of Service

1. Agreement and eligibility

These terms are an agreement between you and FindLostPets.com (“FindLostPets,” “we,” or “us”). By using the service, you agree to these terms and our Privacy Policy. If you are under the age of legal majority where you live, use the service only with permission and supervision from a parent or legal guardian. The service is not intended for children under 13.

2. What the service does

FindLostPets helps people organize a private pet-recovery search, publish lost, found, and sighting reports, compare possible matches, communicate about reports, and manage recovery progress. Features may change as the service develops.

FindLostPets is not an emergency service, animal-control agency, veterinary provider, shelter, or ownership registry. Contact the appropriate local authority or veterinary professional when a person or animal is in immediate danger.

3. Reports and your responsibilities

You agree to provide information you reasonably believe is accurate and current, correct material errors, and resolve or update a report when it is no longer active.

• Do not create false reports, impersonate another person, claim a pet you do not own, or misrepresent custody or authority.
• Do not publish private addresses, access codes, full microchip numbers, or another person's contact details without permission.
• Do not use reports to harass, threaten, discriminate, solicit money deceptively, spam, scrape data, or interfere with the service.
• If you find or hold a pet, follow applicable local laws and reasonable animal-welfare practices. A report does not give you ownership of the animal.

4. Matching is a lead, not proof

Automated systems compare photos, descriptions, locations, timing, and other clues to surface possible matches. We do not guarantee that a suggestion is correct, that every relevant report will be found, or that the service will bring a pet home. A match does not establish identity, ownership, custody, or legal rights.

Review evidence carefully. Use microchip scans, veterinary or adoption records, distinctive details, and appropriate local professionals when verifying a pet or arranging a handoff.

5. Communication and personal safety

The service may facilitate protected messaging and, when product rules and user choices allow, direct contact sharing. You control what additional information you send. Once information is shared or an interaction moves off-platform, we cannot control how another person uses it.

• Do not send money, gift cards, verification codes, account credentials, or unnecessary identity documents in response to a pet-recovery claim.
• Meet in a safe public or trusted professional location when practical, and involve another person if you feel vulnerable.
• Stop contact and report suspicious or abusive behavior. Contact local authorities if you believe there is an immediate threat.

6. Your content

You retain ownership of photos, descriptions, messages, and other content you submit. You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, process, adapt for technical display, publish when you choose public sharing, and otherwise use that content to operate, secure, and improve the service. This license lasts only as long as reasonably necessary for those purposes, subject to our retention obligations.

You represent that you have the rights and permissions needed to submit the content. We may remove, limit, preserve, or disclose content when reasonably necessary to moderate the service, protect safety or rights, investigate misuse, or comply with law.

7. Accounts and private links

You are responsible for activity under your account and for protecting sign-in credentials, verification links, and private recovery links. Tell us promptly if you believe access has been compromised. Do not use another person's account or private link without permission.

8. Third-party services

The service relies on third parties for functions such as hosting, maps, authentication, storage, communications, and image processing, and may link to outside websites. Their services and content are governed by their own terms and policies. We are not responsible for third-party services we do not control.

9. Suspension and service changes

We may restrict or terminate access, remove content, or preserve relevant records when we reasonably believe these terms were violated, safety or legal risk exists, or action is necessary to protect the service. We may modify, suspend, or discontinue features and do not guarantee uninterrupted availability or delivery of any message or notification.

10. Disclaimers

The service is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, accuracy, and availability. We do not endorse or verify every user, report, message, claim, or suggested match.

11. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, FindLostPets and its operators, contributors, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for loss of data, goodwill, use, or opportunity, arising from the service or interactions between users. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

12. Changes and contact

We may update these terms as the service changes. We will revise the effective date and provide additional notice when appropriate. Continued use after updated terms take effect means you accept them. Questions about these terms can be submitted through our feedback form.