Manuel Moreno, a junior executive chef at Amigos, built the app after seeing posts on community Facebook groups about lost pets.
"There are always people posting about lost pets or animals found on the side of the road, but there’s no follow up.
"You don’t know if the pet made it home, I wanted to fix that," he said.
The app, called Drooi, offers members of the public a place to report lost or found animals, share sightings on a live map, and and receive a notification if a missing pet has been seen in their area.
Mr Moreno said he learned his software development skills in 2019 when he bought his first computer and started building Drooi over a year ago.
"I just started coding on websites that give free tutorials and followed YouTube videos," Mr Moreno said.
Almost 80% of the code used for the Drooi app is recycled and built with the help of AI.
The current app is a version of university project Mr Moreno started in 2020 with the same name.
"The current app is a better version of the original idea, shaped by three years living in and volunteering in Wānaka, from cooking for search and rescue dog teams to Snow Farm to supporting the Breast Cancer foundation at Hāwea Station," he said. Mr Moreno said he was very proud of the app and hopes to help more families reunite with their lost pets.
"I feel accomplished because I have been working so hard for this, I have spent hundreds of hours behind a computer.
"At the end of the day if I can help someone that’s just amazing, its just a way of giving back to the community.
In addition to finding lost pets, Drooi can connect pet owners with local providers for walking, sitting, grooming and boarding services.
Drooi is now available as an online app, with a mobile version of the app to launch when the service develops a solid base of users.
