Cobb Reporter

A team of volunteers involved in a nonprofit organization based in the metro Atlanta area have made it their mission to track down lost pets and reunite them with their families.

The Animal Institute is located in West Cobb and was co-founded by Chris Benson, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

"The Animal Institute was designed to be something completely different from everything else in the animal world," Benson told Fox 5 Atlanta. "It was designed to be an incubator of unusual ideas that filled gaps that the animal world was missing."

Benson said one of the gaps the organization discovered was a rescue dedicated to tracking down lost pets and bringing them back to their families, and so the Animal Institute's lost pet recovery team was born, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

The group starts by printing posters with a picture of the lost pet that asks people who spot the dog to call their number, Fox 5 Atlanta reported. After receiving a tip, a rescue team tries to lure the dog to a specific area with food and treats before trapping it.

The Animal Institute has been hard at work for two years now, and Benson estimates that they've reunited hundreds of lost pets in that time frame, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.