On 4/12/2024 a post was made regarding a dog that had been seen on surveillance coming to a property east of town (Photo 1). We thought maybe a neighbor’s dog is just meandering around & going back home. We started to see more posts pop up in the same vicinity but it was all hours of the day/evening. Unfortunately he would run from anyone who stopped to try to help him. He was pushed about 5 miles away to the TA truck stop area. We asked Kathrine to let us know if he returned to her property & we could step in and help. She was the key holder to getting George to safety. He did indeed return, and she allowed us access to her property.
We started our feeding station (4/14) & we would then watch him show up several times a day (Photo 3). Her partner Jeff helped us out & would refill the food anytime he came to the property. These folks were truly the best to work with on getting George to safety. He seemed to have a slight limp (we figured he probably had some pokeys in his feet). George had been walking on Hwy 30 at times, and had even crossed I-80 that we know of one time. Thankfully his life was spared. (Side note – if you see a lost dog & you attempt to catch it but notice it bolts off, let it go – do not continue. Too much pressure on a scared dog pushes them right into a bad situation.)
On 4/16 we placed our Tomahawk box trap out & tied it open to be sure he would fit & enter comfortably. Truth be told we normally would use our missy trap on a dog his size. He showed up & didn’t even hesitate on entering, and he fit perfectly (Photo 4)! We decided the next day would be go time. On 4/17 we set the trap to trigger & rebaited. We thought we would get him early but the dreaded weather did not want to cooperate. While waiting on him to show we received a message from his owner (Photo 5/6). He had found our NextDoor posting! George was newly adopted from the shelter. It sounds like he traveled clear from the southside of town to the east side (according to Google Maps it is about 8.2 miles). George started to slither his way towards the trap around 230pm but cars were really freaking him out. We waited and waited for him to show. We received a message quite a bit later that he was just north of the trap area & seemed to be eating an animal carcass, but was slowly moving south (Photo 7).
It started to get dark & hard to see the trap from where we were with binoculars. We were going to have to solely rely on the camera to let us know when he shows. I decided to check one last time with the binos at 7:56pm & sure enough he was slithering onto the property right by the trap. We waited for camera footage to show him in the trap & the door closed before heading over. We got him (Photo 8)! When we first arrived he was definitely a scared boy. He gave us some warning low growls (Photo 9) & I said “Hi George, you’re safe bud”, he seemed to perk up like hey how do you know my name. We called his owner immediately & then let him calm down a bit. We then got the lick of approval from George. Quite literally. We worked to extract him & get him loaded into the car (we normally load the whole trap & do not open until in a secured area – but we couldn’t lift the trap with him in it & we were all freezing), where he gave kisses & nose boops, then promptly went to sleep (Photo 10). Poor guy was absolutely exhausted & so stinkin sweet! We looked him over as best as we could and let his owner know about the limp, raw pads, and that he would likely need a dewormer and probably some flea meds. We are so glad we were able to secure him safely & reunite him with his owners. He was so excited to see them!
**I cannot confirm 100% but I do believe George was originally from the hoarding case. We viewed previous footage of the intakes and he matches video footage. Siblings that also look just like him are in the footage. But for whatever reason he was back up for adoption at the end of February 2024 and went home to his new owners. Hopefully he will live happily ever after with his current family. They were so thankful & seem to really love this boy.**
©Diamond In The Rough Pet Recovery 