Pet detective tracking down runaway pets | Pets

On the Fourth of July, a fantastic show dazzled the crowd.

Neighborhood celebrations popped, zapped and sprinkled spurts of light all around the sound. And humans are not the only ones who heard it.

Pets high-tailed it out of here, there and everywhere, leaving their owners looking behind every bush.

And helping them is Kat Albrecht, a former police detective-turned pet detective. Her donations-based group, Missing Pet Partnership, doesn't exist to just take reports of missing pets; it aims to find them.

"We're helping anybody and everybody who wants this free help," said Albrecht.

On July 5, 20 trained pet detective volunteers distributed posters in bright colors, alerting area residents about missing pets.

"We're also renting out surveillance equipment for missing cats," said Albrecht.

They scoured neighborhoods in Kent and Federal Way, and studied Craigslist. Searchers on the ground collected pets, and turned them into local vets and shelters that matched those postings. By midday, at least two dozen were reported missing.

If only missing pets could phone home.

"We're expecting a lot more," Albrecht said.

This year is the third year the pet detectives have been at work. And this year, 24 pet owners needed help in the first 24 hours. On Monday,  four pets were reunited with their owners.