GEORGETOWN, Del. – The Brandywine Valley SPCA is using new facial recognition technology to help reunite lost pets with their owners. “It goes by facial recognition – cats and dogs. If a stray animal comes into the shelter, a picture goes into our software which the program would pull from, and be able to match based on facial recognition,” said the Georgetown location’s Director of Operations Chris Farrall.

The SPCA teamed up with a company called Finding Rover – which developed the technology. When lost pets are brought to shelters, photos of the animals are then uploaded into the system – and those are matched with photos from the owners. If a match is made in the database – contact information for the pet owner comes up and the shelter can get in touch with them.

Farrall says that this could be a huge help in keeping lost dogs and cats safe. “To increase upon the technology and the resources we have with something as cool as facial recognition… They’re able to actually able to match photos and get that pet back home same day is an exciting process,” said Farrall.

The SPCA says registering your pets to the database is simple – and only takes a few minutes. If you’d like to add your pet, you can go to the Finding Rover website and upload a picture of your cat or dog – and add your contact information. The SPCA says once pets are registered, they will be kept in the database permanently.