On Tuesday, you printed a letter my 11-year-old daughter, Hannah, wrote about a lost Jack Russell mix we found last Friday. The wonderful news is that her owners answered our free ad in the Courier, and the little dog is now safe at home.

This story has a happy ending, and hopefully there will be more happy endings for lost animals now that channel 6, GOTV and the city of Ottumwa Web site (www.cityofottumwa.org) are posting pictures of lost pets being held at the city-contracted vet’s office to assist their owners in finding them.

As co-founder of Friends of Animals, a newly formed group of citizens working to improve animal control policies in Ottumwa, I would like to encourage anyone who has lost a pet to please watch GOTV or access the Animal Control option on the city Web site, then contact the police department, to locate their missing animals.

Again, many thanks to City Administrator Joe Helfenberger, Animal Control Officer Jeff Williams and City Media Consultant Tom Rodgers for working with Friends of Animals to make these animals visible. If unclaimed by their owner during the seven-day holding period, these animals are put down.

Again, the best way to control Ottumwa’s pet population is by having your animals spayed or neutered. Please act responsibly. And please join Friends of Animals in our push for a municipal shelter to accommodate growing animal control needs in Ottumwa. It’s a future goal that requires us to work and plan now.

Lisa Aslesen

Ottumwa