Brad Tanner, the owner of Chocco the Chesapeake Bay Retriever that was stolen and shot is using his own pet tragedy as inspiration and motivation to share with pet lovers the vision that he believes will protect pets from theft. A united pet community, using one social media tool, making pets visibly identifiable and registered in one single database.
Pets registered in the HomeSafe Program will be visibly identifiable by the green tag they wear on their collar. This tag will alert thieves that this particular animal is protected by the HomeSafe community. Essentially the message will be “don’t touch a pet with a green tag because it’s not worth the risk” - if a pet with a green tag goes missing, with a touch of a button we will mobilize a community of hundreds of thousands of active pet owners and lovers who are watching for suspicious activity, monitoring websites for stolen animals, taking pictures and alerting neighbours, shelters, municipalities and authorities if they notice anything out of the ordinary.
As the Health and Safety Manager for Cleanharbors Energy & Production Services, Brad knows the value of having a set protocol to follow in an emergency situation. So when Chocco went missing, he immediately realized there was a lack of protocol, support and resources for pet owners in that situation.
When Chocco was stolen Brad could not find an obvious first step, there were too many rescue groups to contact effectively, Shelters, Animal Control, and Vet Clinics were not helpful after hours and legislation does not exist to help in the case of a stolen dog.
Brad recognized the need for a more organized approach but found that local governmental borders, boundaries and jurisdictions got in the way of providing for all pet lovers equally. He realized the solution was for pet lovers to take control and help each other. A program by the pet lovers, for the pet lovers.
He envisions a community where every dog is safe; a place where community members do not live in fear of their furry family members being stolen. He imagines a network of organized pet lovers collaborating on long-term and sustainable solutions to protect pets, people and communities all across the nation.
The Sea of Green Community vision has all pets wearing a green tag and all homes sporting a green and white window sign. In Brad’s own words, "Your pet will be visibly identified with a numbered Green Tag. In your windows and at the end of your driveways, as you enter your community, you will see a green and white sign that says this is a pet safe community. This will inform those people of ill intent, that each and every pet within this area will get the highest level of concentrated and organized efforts and media exposure to find and return that loved pet to it’s home in a timely fashion. The sea of green will represent protection, unification and identification of pet owners far and wide. It will push pet thieves out of our communities and relieve the burden on local SPCA's, bylaw and law enforcement.”
Implementation of the Sea of Green Vision (SGC) begins with an organized community meeting entitled “Enuff is Enuff” where Brad talks about his experience, vision, and encourages conversations. Next, from those attendees a local committee will be struck to identify gaps in the pet services and determine what is required to ensure their own pet community is wholly safe, happy and healthy. Finally, the committee will work to create awareness, distribute material, get pets identified and registered in a central database, manage local social media and develop protocols for how to proceed in the case of a stolen, missing or found pet.
The first Enuff is Enuff meeting was held in a trendy local coffee shop in Fort St. John, B.C., on April 09, 2015. Brad spoke to a highly motivated and passionate group of pet lovers about the need to come together, get organized and be proactive in protecting our pets from becoming separated from their families.
SEE NEWS REPORT ABOUT THE EVENT HERE
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