Also Speaks Croatian

In 2002, Princeton Architectural Press published a book of posters advertising missing pets. Lost: Lost and Found Pet Posters from Around the World was the idea of Ian Phillips, an illustrator who had been collecting the posters for years.




In a short essay in Lost Magazine, Phillips says that the book contains his favourite posters from his collection. These posters have the quirkiest of pleas and missing pets; the poster that Phillips found most disturbing was the text-only:

LOST BLACK LAB
No collar, No legs,
NEEDS Medicine!!!
Ask for Unca Tom Jennings

Phillips asked friends throughout the world to mail him any posters that they found (after photocopying and replacing the images), and that is how he managed to amass an international collection that covered pets including ducks, lizards, and hamsters.

I thought of Phillips's book today when I found a lost-pet poster at my local shops. It was taped on a fire hose cupboard between a pizza restaurant and a bottle shop. It doesn't have cute illustrations like most of those in Phillips's book. (It does have a passer-by's silly comments and corrections, though.) But it still made me laugh really hard.























Pinky the Indian Ringneck sounds like a remarkable bird. He's worth the reward money and then some.

Personally, though, I would have mentioned his Croatian language skills right at the start.