by Reba Lean, Fairbanks Daily News Miner
09.11.10 - 08:49 am
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| Tommy Hirtzel is reunited with his Jack Russell terrier, Cassie, at the Fairbanks Animal Sehlter. Cassie disappered from a campusite at 161 Mile Parkes Hwy on Aug 32, and was picked up by a Fairbanks woman |
The reunion began Sept. 1, when an Anchorage woman driving the Parks Highway spotted the dog and decided to pick it up. She brought the dog from where she found it — Mile 155 — to Fairbanks and considered keeping it for herself. Instead, she decided to hand it to Animal Control after a veterinarian convinced her that the dog might be too hard to take care of in its advanced age.
The shelter usually can identify a dog’s owner by taking a quick look at a dog’s collar. If the dog’s collar is missing — as it was in this case — a microchip embedded under an animal’s skin might have the answer. The terrier didn’t have a microchip and would normally be out of luck.
But since the woman had mentioned Mile 155, an Animal Control admissions clerk decided to Google it to pinpoint its owner.
“Mile 155” came up with a Trapper Creek result, and the shelter workers went from there.
They called the Trapper Creek Chamber of Commerce and asked about missing pets in the area. A woman at the Chamber of Commerce said she thought an Alaska State Trooper had lost a dog. The Talkeetna post of the troopers was the next phone call, and the Fairbanks shelter workers were told that the missing dog belonged to a National Park Service employee.
Another park ranger, Jason Nielson, happened to be at the Talkeetna troopers office when that call came in and gave the shelter a call back, offering to help.
The pieces of the puzzle to reconnect the owner and pet began to take shape.
The story begins on Aug. 31, when National Park Service mechanic Tommy Hirtzel went camping in a state park near Mile 161 Parks Highway with his 11-year-old Jack Russell terrier,
Cassie. During the night, Cassie ran off without her collar and tags. Hirtzel had seen a black bear the day before and assumed his dog had been eaten.
He stayed another night at the campsite, driving, walking and calling out Cassie’s name.
In a single spot at the campsite, he had enough cell phone service to send a text to his friend Michelle Logan in Healy that his dog had gone missing.
Michelle frequently baby-sat Cassie, since Hirtzel’s job takes him to remote camps where dogs are not allowed. Logan created a lost-dog ad online. She also sent a flier to Trapper Creek, where the Chamber of Commerce employee saw it at the post office.
On a whim, Logan called the Fairbanks Animal Control office to see if they had heard of a missing terrier. Her call was received shortly after park ranger Nielson’s.
Hirtzel got word his dog was in Fairbanks.
“I was really stunned and shocked,” Hirtzel said. “I owe it all to my friend.”
Hirtzel drove to the shelter in Fairbanks. Workers brought Cassie out from the kennels, where she had been moping.
“She just went crazy,” said Besser, the Animal Control manager. “She was wiggling so hard in his arms.”
Hirtzel drove back to his home in Healy with Cassie, who he’s owned for seven years. That night he dropped her off at his friend’s home and headed out to work. He’s thankful for the Internet, Fairbanks Animal Control workers, and that the person who found Cassie didn’t keep her.
And he got a microchip for Cassie right away.
Source: http://newsminer.com/bookmark/9492282-Terrier-owner-reunited-after-separation-during-Alaska-camping-trip
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