Pampering pets

Pet detective

Many owners see their pets as their "children", and if they go missing they will do anything they can to find their beloved pets. This need has given rise to the profession of "pet detective" who uses high-tech equipment and trained search techniques to help owners find their runaway animals.

Liu Wei, 34, is a professional pet detective. He and his team members wander around the streets at night, searching the bushes with flashlights, infrared cameras and life detectors. To find a missing pet, it's very common that they will walk tens of thousands of steps a day.

Liu was one of the earliest in China to enter the pet detective business. In 2012, he came across an article from overseas about pet detectives. As an animal lover and a fan of detective reasoning, the article sparked his interest in pursuing this job.

At that time, this profession was very uncommon and little known, so Liu's career choice wasn't understood by his family. "They found it incomprehensible and didn't believe how someone would want to spend money to find an animal," he said.

Liu encountered difficulties in the early days. He posted his services on many social networking platforms and online forums but only received one or two cases a month. He had no previous experience and, as there were very few people doing this job in the country, he had no one to turn to.