Another heartwarming story from the front lines and another win for a loose dog who had eluded capture for months and months, running loose at the Oakland Airport parking lot. This little chihuahua had been seen for months - some people estimated almost a year - and had stayed alive because of the kindness of all the workers at the toll booths in the parking lot. Every day, people brought food for her, and so even though she never got close enough to touch, she had reason to stay in the area. Some animal rescue people - thanks Roxanne and Patty - tried to trap her in a humane trap and caught a big cat instead! They also put some bedding and food dishes under a camper shell which was lying on the ground meaning the dog could get out of bad weather. But after months of no progress, when PAW FUND got a call about this dog, we wondered if we could bring a different set of eyes to the problem and solve it. We were working on tactics - given nothing else had worked - when we got a call.... Really, the big hero of this happy ending is the supervisor at the parking lot who watched the little dog take refuge under the camper shell last night during the huge rainstorm, and because it was so loud she did not hear him approach and kick away the stick that was holding the rear door of the shell open. She was trapped. But last night it was too dark and risky to try to get her out. Any small opening would have let her escape and we realized this was the one chance we had. So we put a series of fences around the whole area to contain her if she did get out of the camper shell and agreed to meet there this morning at 7am. We worked out how to force the dog towards one end of the shell where we could open a small window and as she climbed through it we had a crate ready the other side and then we would quickly close off the shell so she couldnt retreat back into it. Two people got down onto the ground and started to climb into the shell from the other end and try to scare the dog towards the open window and our crate beyond. And 15 minutes later, the little dog was in the crate, shaking a little but not fearful enough to bite. We called over to the staff in the toll booths who had been feeding this little gal and they were so excited to see her safe, they both started crying! And by the time she left with her new foster home (thanks to the Easy Bay SPCA clinic staff who were involved), she was looking as though she was ready to not be on the run any longer. Partnerships - they always work to bring about the best results!
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 18:46:35 +0000
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