A BUSINESSMAN hopes he has hit on a great idea to reunite pet owners with their lost animal.

Nick Carpenter came up with the plan after his cat, Cooper, went missing and was never seen again.

In a bid to help pet owners in a similar situation, he has devised a website to help people find their missing pets.

The idea is that lost, stolen and found animals can be reported, free of charge, in a pilot scheme over the next month.

Reports are automatically distributed by email to key organisations in the area such as vets, wardens, rescue centres and also a network of local volunteers who are asked to keep an eye out.

Mr Carpenter, 35, who lives in Bicester and runs a web development business in Telford Road, is urging people to sign up as volunteers.

He said: “Anyone who has ever lost a pet will certainly empathise with others in the same situation, but it’s really something that everyone can get involved with.”

Mr Carpenter said his cat went missing twice. The first time Cooper was returned after someone handed him into a vet.

He said: “Sadly, the second time he went missing, he was never seen again.

“I did hear from somebody who said they saw a cat matching his description lying dead by the side of a busy road.

“By the time I went to look there was nothing there.”

After Cooper went missing he put up posters, contacted local vets and put leaflets through doors, but all to no avail.

The former Bicester Community College pupil added: “There is little structured support when it comes to finding a lost animal.

“I felt that I could develop a system to centralise all of this information but on a local level and become the ‘go-to’ place when you lose your pet in Bicester.”

The site is being sponsored by Jason Williams, director of Bicester Veterinary Centre, in Victoria Road. He said: “There has always been a desperate need for an easy-to-use, co-ordinated system for reuniting owners with their missing pets.”

If the pilot scheme is successful it could be rolled out to other towns across Oxfordshire.

For more information click on the new website:: www.animalfinders.co.uk