Written by Brian J. Howard
May 1, 2011
CORTLANDT — Claire Albahae had just about given up hope of ever finding Gertie, the mixed breed, black-and-white hound dog she lost nearly seven months ago.
 |
| Gertie the dog is safe at home with owner Claire Albahae in Brewster, nearly seven months after she first went missing from Clarence Fahnestock State Park in Putnam Valley, 15 miles away. |
But Gertie turned up Tuesday, 15 miles from where she'd been lost. By Friday night, trackers had snared the emaciated pup. Now she's safe at home, if a bit scrawnier than before.
"Physically, she's not quite skin and bones," a relieved Albahae, 62, said.
"I had almost given up hope but not quite," the Brewster resident said. "I had many, many sightings."
Albahae was hiking with her three dogs in Clarence Fahnestock State Park in Putnam Valley Oct. 9 when Gertie, her youngest, broke free and ran. Albahae searched for her until 4 a.m.
Sightings poured in all fall and winter as Albahae posted hundreds of signs and followed up on every lead.
Gertie, who is between 7 and 8 years old, weighed 38 pounds when she went missing. At Brewster Veterinary Hospital on Saturday, she weighed in at 28 pounds.
Several feet of snow fell between Christmas and early February. And when it wasn't snowing, it was cold.
Gertie's ID tags and collars were still on, so Albahae thinks she was fed by strangers but never caught.
Trackers Chuck and Kricket Dyckman of Dyckman Wildlife Control in Carmel advised her to post signs and try to establish where Gertie was roaming.
That proved difficult until the call from a worker at Hudson Valley Charter Service in Cortlandt who'd spotted Gertie. Albahae went there and laid out food to lure the dog and an infrared camera to make sure it was indeed Gertie.
When she saw that it was, she called the Dyckmans.
A trap they set Friday morning safely captured her by midnight. Albahae had her home by 1 a.m., in need of a bath and tick removal, but safe and in good spirits.
"I'm so happy. Life has never been the same since I lost her," Albahae said. "There was a blank spot where her bed used to be, and I would just stare at it."
She found Gertie at PetFinder.com in early 2010, rescued by ASPCA of Ohio from an abusive home. She also has a beagle, another mixed breed and three cats, one she found while looking for Gertie.
This isn't the first local dog to survive a winter in the suburban wilds. In February 2010, a black Labrador named Apollo roamed the woods of Croton-on-Hudson for six weeks before the Dyckmans found him.
"There's always hope," said Kricket Dyckman, who has tracked dogs lost as long as three years. "Dogs are hardy animals; they really are. They can travel a good distance and they're smart."
Albahae plans to offer the worker who found Gertie a cash reward. A message left at the business was not immediately returned.
Source: http://www.lohud.com/article/20110501/NEWS02/105010363/Gertie-dog-found-safe-after-winter-run?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News
Printer-friendly version here
No comments:
Post a Comment