STORM2K

Family Gets Dog Back After Nearly 5 Years

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - A couple says they are thrilled to have their dog back nearly five years after it disappeared. Holly and Troy Webb said they thought the worst when Gidget, their Lhasa apso, ran away in 2001.

"We thought maybe she got hurt or something, but nobody called or anything like that," Holly Webb told WNDU-TV.

But the South Bend Animal Control officials called the Webbs last week, saying they found the dog, still wearing the collar and tags she had on when she disappeared. The dog was found tied to animal control's front door, the Webbs were told.

"When I saw her, it was like seeing a ghost," Troy Webb said.

Gidget, missing for four years and seven months, is now 12 or 13 years old. She came home with matted fur and moves a bit slower but was otherwise all right, the Webbs said.

"If she just wants to be a lap dog, that's fine with me, too," said Troy Webb.

The Webbs said they believe someone had their dog. She had been fed but not groomed.
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Dog Found After Escaping Over 7-Foot Wall

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - An American bulldog that had escaped from a kennel by scaling a 7-foot concrete wall topped with barbed wire was found Wednesday night, Animal Control Bureau officials said.

Rosco chewed and bent the latch on his outdoor pen, enabling him to push open the door and escape over the wall on Tuesday. Police and animal control officers continued to search for Rosco Wednesday until he was caught at 6:30 p.m. in a lake about four miles from the kennel, said Wayne Gilbert, superintendent for animal control.

Gilbert said Rosco was captured without incident, was "extremely exhausted" and wasn't aggressive toward the officers. After being seen by a veterinarian, Rosco was placed back in a reinforced kennel with a padlock.

"Given his history, we wanted to make sure that door can't pop open," Gilbert said.

The dog was brought to the kennel Sunday because it had jumped over a fence into a yard and attacked another dog, said Steve Snyder, an animal control supervisor. The owner was charged with having a dangerous dog, he said.

A female companion American bulldog that was with Rosco at the time also was taken into custody and remained at the kennel, Snyder said.

This is the first time a dog has escaped from the animal control kennel by going over the wall, he said.

After escaping from his pen, Snyder said, Rosco must have jumped high enough to get a foothold on top of the wall and squeezed through the barbed wire.

"He got out, climbed over the fence and said, 'See ya,' " Snyder said.

Awww that first story is so nice. How sweet, I bet Gidget was happy to see them too.

Golden Retriever Caught After 2 Years

By ANNE SAUNDERS, Associated Press Writer

STRATHAM, N.H. (AP) - Satellite tracking, helicopter surveillance and dart gun attempts failed — it was a boiled ham dinner that brought Sam, a golden retriever, in from the cold after two years on the lam.

Nicknamed the "Golden Ghost," Sam survived two New Hampshire winters, deer hunting season and being hit by a car — and still no one could catch him.

Peg and Dennis Sklarski of Deerfield adopted Sam in 2004. They say he was raised inside a chain-link fence in Tennessee, sporadically fed, but otherwise ignored by his owners until animal rescuers saved him. The Sklarskis had him only three weeks when Dennis took him to work — and Sam got loose.

What followed was two years of diligent efforts to catch the 4-year-old dog, involving everyone from local dog lovers with treats to animal rescue experts with high-tech equipment. Sam repeatedly sent them home with their tails between their legs. He survived by raiding garbage cans and as time passed, eating the food left for him by various human friends who'd learned of his plight.

Neighbors called the Sklarskis repeatedly when they saw Sam, and Dennis said he spent many nights cruising the roads after a Sam sighting.

In January, experts from Boston arrived with infrared cameras and a remote-controlled net but had no luck. A friend provided the use of his helicopter to search. Steve Sprowl, an investigator with New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, failed repeatedly to get the dog with a tranquilizer gun.

"Sam, he was winning 200 to 1," Sprowl said.

Sam's intelligence forced Sprowl to work equally hard at plotting a way to catch him.

Donations enabled the SPCA to buy its own remote-controlled net. The Mitchell family, who were among the people who'd regularly been feeding Sam, offered to put it up on their wooded property. They installed a video camera that taped round the clock.

Then the work really began. Having identified Sam's territory, Sprowl and the SPCA asked the people in the nearby towns of Raymond and Freemont to stop feeding the dog. Slowly, they were trying to make the Mitchell property the only place Sam could count on for a meal.

Police Officer Tona McCarthy, who'd devoted hours of his own time to tracking Sam, made sure he passed near the Mitchells' at a time the dog was known to visit the food dish.

On Wednesday, he lucked out. He spotted Sam in the area. Rather than stop the car and risk spooking the dog, he ignored Sam and continued on to the Mitchells. There he hid, watching for Sam on a video monitor, ready to release a net. It had been up for five weeks, about 500 feet from the home.

Sam had been suspicious of the net ever since it first went up near one of his favorite feeding spots. He'd already evaded three net attempts in other places.

On video, his caution is obvious. He sniffs the air, the ground and looks from side to side. He steps slowly, creeping closer to the food dish.

Normally, Sam grabs the food bowl with his teeth and drags it away to eat. But rather than lose those tasty ham skimmings, he stopped to gobble a few mouthfuls before seizing the bowl.

The delay gave McCarthy just enough time to release the net — the far end just caught the dog as he fled with the bowl.

McCarthy was so excited when he reported his capture on the radio, he gave his colleagues a scare.

"The chief actually pulled over and he thought something happened to me," McCarthy said, laughing.

Sam, now in a clean cage at the SPCA animal shelter, is being treated for a cut to his upper lip suffered while trying to escape. Veterinarians say he will need treatment for heartworm and Lyme disease and must be watched to ensure he hasn't contracted rabies.

Sam will remain under observation for 10 days, then he can go home to the Sklarskis, who are counting on his intelligence to help him recognize that it's not a bad deal to be a beloved pet.

"The first time that I saw Sam after he was rescued, I went to his cage and I got down on all fours and said, 'Oh, Sammy boy' and he looked up at me, and he wagged his tail and he reached his paw out to me," Peg Sklarski said.
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On the Net: http://www.nhspca.org