By Teri Figueroa
Posted: June 16, 2010 7:32 pm
Liberty the dog was found roaming the streets after her owners moved to Florida.
Liberty is no longer running the streets of North County. She's moved to Florida.
The 92-pound silver labrador was reunited last week with her owners, who had recently relocated to the Tampa area. And it is all thanks to a Bonsall couple who rescued and returned the 3-year-old canine ---- at a personal cost of nearly $500.
John Pickrell did not know Liberty, did not know her owners, when he spotted the stray dog running down a street not far from his home last week.
"Her tongue was hanging out," Pickrell, 67, said. "She looked pretty frazzled."
He said he knew he had to stop to help the pup, lest he face the wrath of his dog-loving wife ---- "I knew I'd be dog food," John Pickrell said.
"I opened the door and she crawled in over me," he said of the stray. "I had to wiggle my way out of the front seat to get her to move."
Pickrell took the dog home to his wife, JoAnn Pickrell, 64, who jumped into action. First step: check for a microchip ---- a success, since it turned up the owners and a phone number.
But that was the easy part. Getting Liberty home took a little more.
JoAnn Pickrell called the owners and learned they had just moved to Florida and had left the pup in the care of a North County neighbor. But the neighbor wasn't returning their calls, leaving them mystified as to Liberty's whereabouts and well-being.
"I made sure they really wanted the dog back," JoAnn Pickrell said. "If not, we were gonna keep her."
Yes, the owners told Pickrell, they wanted to be reunited with their dog.
The dog's owners did not immediately return calls for comment on Wednesday. But in an interview with a local Fox television affiliate in Tampa, the family said they were thrilled to get Liberty back ---- but paying for the flight would be a problem.
"We had just spent thousands to move out of state so we were like, 'How are we going to come up with the money to get our dog back?' " said Liberty's owner, identified by the television station only as Heidi.
Without much thought, JoAnn Pickrell, a cancer patient, made arrangements to get the dog on an eastbound plane ---- her treat.
But not before she had Liberty checked out by a vet. Good thing she did so, because Liberty had a foxtail burr lodged deep in her ear canal, leaving her with an ear infection.
Pickrell found a doctor at Carlsbad's Bressi Ranch Pet Hospital willing to treat Liberty and remove the plant piece from her ear gratis, save for the $22.50 worth of medicine.
Pickrell bought the $417 plane ticket ---- made a little less painful with the help of a $100 donation from a small nonprofit group in Fallbrook known as the Senior Special Needs Animal Assistance Project Endeavor, or SNAPPE, which networks with other groups to aid animals.
"I know how hard it is when you are an individual animal rescuer like JoAnn, taking money out of your own pocket," said Mary Ann Bouse, SNAPPE founder. Bouse also donated a large portable kennel to house Liberty on the plane.
John Pickrell said his wife spent "a couple of pretty hectic days making arrangements" to rescue and return a lost dog to strangers.
"But if you knew her, if she had to spend her last dollar, that's where it would be," John Pickrell said of his wife's animal rescue efforts. "There's no question about it."
Many North County folks who have turned out for jury duty at the Vista courthouse in the last decade may remember JoAnn Pickrell. She's the face of the local jury services office, the dynamo who often gives an introductory speech and civic-duty pep rally to the tired-eyed, coffee-swilling potential jurors. In recent months, chemotherapy side effects led her to wear a hat at work.
Thursday, as it happens, is JoAnn Pickrell's last day with the court; she said her illness has made her too tired to continue work.
But, hey, Friday marks her first day of retirement. There's gotta be a few "Liberty" jokes in there somewhere.
Source: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/article_359c2c5a-3e47-5e2b-bb57-17169e405622.html
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