An animal lover has spent more than £2,000 of her own money taking out an advertisement to raise awareness of the huge number of pets that go missing in Surrey.

Emily Baum, 31, has paid for the advertisement in this newspaper and sister paper the Surrey Comet after being impressed by the work of the Missing Pets Bureau charity. Surrey is among the UK's worst areas for missing pets and her cocker-spaniel, four-year-old Mac, was stolen out of her car while she was living in Cobham.

She said: "Mac was stolen three years ago after someone forced the car window when I was away for 30 minutes. Three days later, after much distress, a woman returned him after seeing our appeal.

"That's when I found dogs are stolen in Surrey on a regular basis and I have helped the charity ever since, by putting up posters for missing animals.

"I wanted to take out the advert to make people more aware that this goes on. It is the worst feeling in the world to have lost your pet, because they can't ask anyone for help."

Ms Baum said Mac and her other cocker-spaniel, Sprite, three, also had a lucky escape when they were rescued from seven feet of water during the infamous floods at Boscastle, Cornwall in 2004.

A Missing Pets Bureau spokesman said Surrey was the UK's second worst area for missing dogs after Kent. He said: "It is fantastic that Emily has sponsored this advert, she knows just how traumatic it is when your pet goes missing. We are currently looking for missing 74 dogs in Surrey.

"Breeds such as Staffordshire bull terriers are popular with thieves as they are very friendly. Many are stolen because thieves want the cash reward if they return them."

He advised pet-owners not to specify a reward amount and to pre-register their animals with the bureau, because eight out of ten pre-registered animals were found.

He added: "It is also a good idea to have pets neutered so they cannot be used for breeding."

Email your missing pet stories to our special website surreycomet.co.uk/news/petsreunited.

To contact the Missing Pets Bureau, phone 0800 0198 123.