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American Morning

Illustrator Turns Collection of Lost Pet Posters into Book

Aired August 22, 2002 - 08:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: We have all at one time or another probably stopped at a telephone pole or bulletin board to read a lost pet poster, right? It's one thing I suppose to be moved by the heartfelt pleas of the owner looking to get its pet back. It's an entirely different matter to be moved to collecting the posters.
CNN's Jeanne Moos makes the most of it now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When man's best friend goes missing, this could end up being your dog's best friend, the lost pet poster, where owners bear intimate details, like "he answers to Fred" or "Mr. Puppy" or "Smooshy Dog."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are their, like, love letters.

MOOS: Canadian illustrator Ian Phillips began collecting lost pet posters over a decade ago. Now he's turned his collection into a book.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This book is going to make me cry.

MOOS: Or laugh.

(LAUGHTER)

MOOS: From Lopez the cat with his $10 reward to the $10,000 offered by someone desperately seeking Susan. Little dog, big reward. Unless they start putting missing pets on dog biscuit boxes, there's not much of an alternative to the poster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Children crying. Does not have schnauzer cut."

MOOS: There's T-bone posing with Santa, and a pug in pearls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "It has a tumor on its left side."

MOOS: Owners spare no anatomical details.

(on camera): An old (ph), toothless orange Persian with a dandriff problem.

(voice-over): Even if spilling "dandruff" is over their head and shoulders.

Then there's this one, for a limbless black lab.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No legs!

MOOS: How do you lose a dog with no legs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe he rolled away.

MOOS: From no legs to too many toes, Ian has collected over a thousand original posters, some sent by friends, some sent by strangers, answering ads Ian placed. The book got one guy thinking about the time he absentmindedly left his dog, Genesis, tied up outside when he went into a grocery store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I completely forget about for like a day because I was going on a trip.

MOOS: A passerby untied the dog and let Genesis lead her to the dog's home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lost the dog and didn't even know it and got him back.

MOOS: Ian's lost pet posters span the world. This French yorky was in its owner's BMW when the car was stolen. Kids make the cutest posters, even if this lost cat looks more like a catfish.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like his thought bubble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Where the hell am I?"

MOOS: The author doesn't really know how most of these missing pet cases turned out, though we know Ginger was found. There are lost turtles, a lost wolf, lost four head of cows, even a lost pet rat named "Poison" and various lost snakes, including this 3.5 foot one pictured in a helpful diagram.

We once lost a lady who lost her lovebird. She didn't just pet up posters. She played Lamby Pie's favorite song out her window.

Alas, no luck.

The book ends with a missing grilled cheese poster that was someone's idea of a joke. At least it doesn't bite. You bite it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope you don't eat the whole book.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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