Privacy policy
Animalerte is a community-run, free alert service for lost and found animals. We process the minimum data necessary for this purpose, in line with the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (nFADP, in force since 1 September 2023).
Who is responsible
The data controller is the Animalerte team. For any question or request about your data, write to: info@animalerte.ch
Adrien Gambetta · Fix & Flow, Rue Oscar-Bider 108, 1950 Sion. Legal notice
What data we collect
- The alert: species, description, town and place, optional photo, position shown on the map. This information is public: only mention what you are willing to make visible.
- Your contact details (email, and phone if you provide one): never shown publicly by default. They are used for the management link, the expiry reminder and message relaying, and are visible to our partners (shelters, veterinary practices or municipalities). Your number only appears on the listing if you explicitly enable it.
- Relay messages: if someone has seen the animal, their message and contact details are forwarded to you so you can get back to them. Those details, left by the witness, are also visible to our partners (shelters, veterinary practices or municipalities), and are kept for as long as the alert.
We use neither account nor password: an alert is managed via a secret link. We set no advertising cookies and do no behavioural tracking.
Purpose and legal basis
The data is only used to help find the animal and run the service. The legal basis is your consent, given when creating the alert, which you can withdraw at any time by deleting it.
Retention period
- An alert expires automatically after 40 days and then disappears from the map.
- An expired alert is permanently deleted 7 days later; a closed alert (animal reunited) 30 days after closing.
- You can delete your alert and all its data yourself at any time via your management link (right to erasure).
Recipients
The public details of a listing are visible to everyone. Your private contact details are never shown on the site, and the relay passes them to no one: you alone decide whether to reply. They are, however, visible to our partners (shelters, veterinary practices or municipalities), identified organisations we have a written agreement with, so they can reach you if they take your animal in. A partner can also correct, extend or reopen a listing, which extends how long it is kept. Each of their actions is recorded in a log that keeps the listing reference and the kind of change, never its content; the log is kept for one year, except instructions to remove an Instagram post, which carry only the reference and are kept until the post is removed. We do not sell any data.
Social networks (Meta)
To widen the search, the Animalerte team may republish an alert on the service’s Facebook and Instagram pages. What is sent: the photo, the species, the animal’s name, the town, the beginning of the description and the link to the alert. Never your contact details. These posts are hosted by Meta, in the United States, under their own terms. A Facebook post is removed automatically as soon as the alert is closed or deleted; an Instagram medium, however, cannot be deleted programmatically: we remove it by hand, without being able to guarantee a delay.
Reports
When you report a listing or a problem, we keep what you write, the page concerned, your email address if you leave one, and your IP address, for at most six months. A notification is sent at the same time to Telegram, where the team and partner shelters read it: it contains your text and, if given, the address you left. Telegram is a service based outside Switzerland. Do not put anything sensitive there; for a personal matter, write to info@animalerte.ch
Mapping (OpenStreetMap)
The map is provided by OpenStreetMap, a third-party service. To protect your privacy, no data is sent to their servers until you display the map. By clicking to show it, your browser loads the map tiles from openstreetmap.org, which technically transmits your IP address to them. Your choice is stored locally in your browser.
Hosting
The service and database are hosted in Switzerland. Fonts are served from our own server (no call to Google Fonts).
Your rights
You have the right to access, rectify and delete your data. Deletion is immediate via your management link; for any other request, contact: info@animalerte.ch
This text is provided for information only and does not constitute legal advice.