In recent years, despite the significant time and money required for pet ownership, the number of people choosing to become “pet parents” has continued to grow rather than decline. Looking at Taiwan’s current situation, more and more people would rather raise pets than have children. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of the Interior, the combined estimated number of pet cats and dogs in Taiwan in 2025 has reached 3.2 million, far exceeding the 2.68 million children aged 0 to 14 in the same year. Compared with the heavy financial pressure and social expectations that come with raising children, owning a pet is much simpler—it does not involve the educational challenges, communication struggles, and social comparisons that come with parenting, nor does it carry the inescapable responsibility and scrutiny that parents face. Yet it still provides companionship, alleviates loneliness, and satisfies people’s psychological need to feel wanted and depended upon.
This is precisely why pets are no longer just “animals” in the lives of many owners—they are, in an emotional sense, true family members. And because of this profound emotional bond, when a furry companion goes missing, the impact on the owner often far exceeds what outsiders can imagine. The anxiety and worry are no less intense than when a family member goes out of contact. In addition to common measures such as filing a police report and posting lost pet notices, a growing number of owners in recent years have chosen to hire professional investigation agencies to help locate their missing pets, making “pet finding” a service that has gradually evolved from a niche request into an increasingly common offering within the investigation industry.
Earthquake Terror: Pets Went Missing Investigation team’s meticulous search helps bring someone home safely
Pets are like family, and the urgency of a lost pet is no less than that of a missing relative.Model Credit Investigation Co., Ltd.Here is a recent pet-finding case we handled. The client family’s Yorkshire Terrier, Dudu, was frightened by an earthquake, ran out of the house, and vanished without a trace. Afterward, the family tried nearly every method they could think of, including posting lost-pet notices around the community, asking for help on social media platforms, and walking daily to search the streets and alleys within a radius of several kilometers, but they still found no further clues.
After the exemplary team took over the case, they not only helped expand the reach of the missing pet notice, but also analyzed the dog’s habits to pinpoint the alleys where Dudu might be, conducting a thorough grid search. They also used food as a lure to avoid startling the already nervous Dudu and causing it to flee again by approaching too abruptly.
After several days of searching, Dudu was finally found safe in a grassy area some distance from home. At the moment of discovery, Dudu had clearly lost weight, and its paw pads were worn raw from being on the go for so long. The team immediately contacted the client and helped take Dudu to the vet for a check-up. Fortunately, after evaluation, its condition was fine.
When they learned that Dudu had been safely found, the client’s family could hardly contain their emotions, exclaiming that they could finally set down the heavy weight that had been hanging over their hearts for days. The client said that Dudu had been with the whole family since puppyhood, not only as a playmate accompanying the children as they grew up, but also as a family member the couple had jointly cared for and worried about throughout their years of marriage. “The atmosphere at home was really gloomy those days. No one dared to say ‘what if we never find him,’ but deep down everyone was terrified.” For them, Dudu’s return was not just about getting a dog back—it was about bringing back an irreplaceable member of the household.
Seize the golden rescue window. Professional private investigators leverage their systematic search advantages.
Model Investigation AgencyPrivate detective Zhan Xiaoyu noted that in recent years, there has been a clear increase in commissions related to finding lost pets. He believes this growth is no coincidence, and to some extent, it reflects a shift in the role pets play within the structure of modern families.
In the past, when people lost a pet, most would put up lost-pet notices themselves and spread the word through social media platforms, rarely thinking to seek professional help. But in recent years, the number of people willing to hire a detective agency to help find their pets has clearly increased. “This shows that people are beginning to realize that a lost pet, just like a missing person, has a golden window of time. The sooner you adopt a systematic search approach, the higher the chance of finding them.” He also noted that when many clients describe their feelings, the words they use are often exactly the same as when a family member goes missing. “Worry, self-blame, inability to sleep—these reactions are almost no different from the feelings when a relative is lost.”
He further pointed out that the increase in pet-finding commissions reflects, to some extent, broader social structural shifts such as declining birth rates and an aging population. As pets increasingly fill the emotional roles once played by children or partners in many households, their safety naturally becomes tied to the deeper emotional needs of their owners.
There is much wisdom in the details of finding a pet. The Taiwan Detective Professional Association provides official mediation and third-party appeals.
Taiwan Detective Professional AssociationChairperson-elect Hsu Shih-wei offers an observation from another angle. He points out that the biggest difference between pet-finding cases and other types of commissions lies in the service subject. Animals cannot express opinions or confirm their condition the way humans can, which means practitioners must take on a higher standard of self-monitoring responsibility throughout the entire search process.
He gave examples: after finding a pet, how to confirm that the animal in front of you is indeed the one owned by the client, rather than another lost animal with a similar appearance, to avoid misidentification; and whether the capture process causes unnecessary fright or harm to the animal—these are all details that the business must handle with care.
He also mentioned that searching for pets differs considerably from searching for people, and during the actual search process, it is even more important to appropriately refer to the opinions of relevant professionals and the pet owners themselves. Hsu Shih-wei reminded the public that if they have requests for pet search commissions, they can use the Taiwan Detective Professional Association to match with suitable service providers, thereby reducing the likelihood of subsequent consumer disputes. The association has a comprehensive complaint mechanism and welcomes the public to make good use of it when needed.
Source: KOCPC Chinese