How dedicated volunteer team can find your dog or cat when it strays

Pet detective Jo-Anne Wright is the stuff of naughty canine and feline nightmares – and the woman of desperate owners’ dreams.

Jax the black staffy crawled his way to freedom after being trapped in a cave for two days. Picture: Supplied

Cabanossi. Cocktail Frankfurt. Sausage. Mix it all together, add in a dash of determination and fiery passion, and you have a secret recipe that should attract any missing pet.

It’s just one of the many tips and tricks pet detectives like Jo-Anne Wright have developed over their years of tracking, trapping and rescuing missing pets.

When it comes to dog and cat rescue, you will be hard pressed to find anyone who can outwit the Central Coast woman. She’s the stuff of naughty canine and feline nightmares, and the woman of desperate owner’s dreams.

If your pet goes missing, Jo is the one you call. And at this time of year - with fireworks and people on summer holidays - she’s busier than ever.

Central Coast pet detective Jo-Anne Wright runs Milly’s Search Trap and Rescue. Picture: Supplied

Groups of volunteer pet detectives are sprouting up across the country, helping loved ones track and capture missing pets.

They stretch from the Central Coast to Cairns, Tuncurry to the Northern Territory. They could be your friend, neighbour or child’s teacher. Every day people, who have made it their life finding your lost pet.

“Every time there was a big case, or a hard case, people would reach out to me and we get to work,” said Mrs Wright, an animal lover who owns 14 cats and two dogs.

“We are a volunteer group, we don’t charge for anything we do. We do work on donations. There are owners out there who are so desperate. All they want is sound advice,” she said.

And so they deliver, sometimes not only giving advice but travelling hundreds of kilometres to help desperate owners find their furry friends.

Their website is littered with testimonials of seemingly impossible rescues.

Bobby the poodle was rescued after 11 days on the run. Picture: Supplied

Lunar was flured out of the busy with squeaky toys. Picture: Supplied

“Bobby. 11 days on the run. Never give up,” reads one.

In another post, Lunar, a one-year-old poodle who ran from Two Shores Holiday Park, The Entrance, was found in the bush, lured out by squeaky toys, after expert advice from Millys.

There’s other moments that stand out in Mrs Wright’s time – like the rescue of Jax, the staffy who was trapped in a rock crevice for two days in the Central Coast. Milly’s Search Trap and Rescue, as well as an army of volunteers, worked tirelessly to free the trapped pooch.

“That was a tough one,” said Mrs Wright. “We didn’t know if we could get the dog out.

“The owner got onto our page and said he had found his dog and it was in a rock crevice, can we please help. Everything he said he needed we would help with,” Mrs Wright said.

“I’d pretty much given up”, said owner Brian Bannon.

“All you could see was his eyes. I didn’t know what to do, and then someone tagged Millys, and it all started happening.”

Then there’s Northern Beaches woman Liz Harris, whose pet sitter lost her beloved pet cat Gizmo while she was in Canada. Despite being on the other side of the world, it didn’t stop Milly’s from taking action, with member Karin Connors reaching out from Australia to help.

Based in Tuncurry, some 300km from the Northern Beaches, Ms Connors, a former police search and rescue officer with 26 years’ experience in all things search and rescue, has become somewhat of a rescue advisor.

Liz Harris with her cat Gizmo, who was found with the help of a pet detective after she was lost. Picture: Tim Hunter

She advised her to put up posters and leave clothes with her scent out for Gizmo, who eventually was lured home after five days on the run.

“I was so desperate to get home and walk the streets and look for her. I had to lean on complete strangers and hope for the best, and they were just amazing,” Ms Harris said.

Those who are a part of Milly’s have learnt the secret rules to finding pets. Some, like putting up posters, are obvious. Other’s not so much. There’s the use of liquid smoke – a barbecue-flavoured liquid, commonly used for smoking meats, that is instead sprayed all over areas the animal was last sighted.

“It smells like barbecue pizza. As you soon as you smell it, you’re starving – and the dog is too,” said Mrs Wright.

The poster for lost cat Gizmo. Picture: Supplied

Cats have a refined pallet, according to Mrs Wright. The secret to luring a lost feline is tuna – and it must be John West in Springwater.

While SPAM is a popular bait for American pets, Australian pets “hate it”. Instead, you have more luck with a barbecue chicken. When that doesn’t work, it’s time to pull out the big guns, the the crème de la crème of pet attraction, Mrs Wright’s “secret recipe” – a concotion of cabanossi, sausages and cocktail Frankfurt.

“Kittens, cats, dogs – everyone loves this mix,” she said.

The biggest tips are looking through CCTV cameras, leaving out the owner’s clothes and scent, and making sure to stay silent when an animal is spotted.

It might seem counterintuitive, but you must never “call a pet by their name”, said Mrs Wright.

“There’s two main reasons for that. Your dog is in flight mode, they aren’t going to come to you. Not only that, you are stressed. You are going to portray that stress in your voice,” she said.

Instead, owners are recommended to yell a phrase or word that gets their dog excited.

“What that does is it actually relaxes the owner’s voice, so they come,” she said.

Do you have a story for The Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]