Sacramento Animal Shelters Using Pet Facial Recognition App

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Animal shelters in the Sacramento area are using a new app to reunite lost pets with their owners.

Photos of pets brought into a Sacramento shelter will automatically go into the app Finding Rover. Users can upload a picture of the pet they lost and the app uses facial recognition to search for potential matches. It also alerts a large network of users, which includes veterinarians, shelters and other pet owners.

If you find a pet, you can do the same thing to reunite it with its owner.

RELATED: Find out more about the Finding Rover app

"It takes about 128 spots around the face. It uses area around the nose and the eyes, texture, color and then it does a match. We have 98% accuracy with dogs and 99% with cats," said the John Polimeno, founder of Finding Rover.

The Sacramento County Bradshaw Animal Shelter, City of Sacramento Front Street Animal Shelter and Sacramento SPCA say this technology will identify lost and found dogs through smartphones or computers.

The app is free on iTunes and Google Play.