Puppy Left Brevard Crash Site; Microchip Prompts Reunion
Rick Neale
June 23, 2011
MELBOURNE, Fla. -- Confused in the darkness after the violent crash, Baxter the puppy bolted from the back seat and vanished from view in a wooded area near Port St. John in 2005.
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| Video at: http://bcove.me/5003criu |
The purebred poodle's gravely injured owner, Craig Kline, had just wrecked and totaled his Nissan Maxima on the night before Thanksgiving at the western terminus of the Port St. John Parkway.
Kline suffered a broken neck, and he was flown by helicopter to Holmes Regional Center in Melbourne. As years passed, he gave up hope of ever seeing his lost pet again.
But 66 months later, Kline received a jaw-dropping phone call. Someone had picked up Baxter from a roadside and dropped him off at the Central Brevard Humane Society animal shelter in Cocoa, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.
Man and dog were reunited May 10. Kline's new wife, Kim, said Baxter recognized his former master right away.
"Oh, I'm ecstatic. He's a great dog," Craig Kline said. "He's well-behaved and well-adjusted. He's a member of our family."
Baxter was lucky: Workers at the Cocoa shelter had scanned him with an electronic wand, detecting the tiny microchip embedded between his shoulder blades. That's how he was identified.
Theresa Clifton, CBHS executive director, said the miniature poodle's wayfaring tale serves as a cautionary lesson for Space Coast pet owners -- particularly during hurricane season.
"It just takes a minute. It's just like a shot," Clifton said of microchip implants. "You can't feel it. You can't find it inside your pet. Once it's inserted, you don't even know that it's there."
After hurricanes Frances and Jeanne hammered Brevard County in September 2004, Clifton said her shelter took in about 100 extra homeless, unidentified animals.
And most Gulf Coast evacuees never saw their pets again after Hurricane Katrina, she said, because their beloved critters "were scattered to the four corners."
"For 25 bucks, you can get your dog back -- even after five years," she said.
Slightly larger than the size of a grain of rice, microchips provide access to owners' names, addresses and phone numbers, which are listed in a national database.
During an interview at the Klines' Melbourne home, Baxter bounded across furniture, wagged his tail and licked Florida Today personnel, wearing a camouflage neckerchief. He leaned on Craig Kline's shin while he scratched his floppy ears.
Baxter was named after Ron Burgundy's dog in the movie "Anchorman" -- the one that was kicked off the side of a bridge by Jack Black.
"He's very mellow. Super friendly. Very playful. A little shy," Kim Kline said. "He gets along with kids, adults and other animals."
Craig Kline, a 26-year Air Force reservist, is an aircraft maintenance worker at Patrick Air Force Base. He paid $1,200 for Baxter in 2005, owned him for less than a month before the crash, and had no clue of his whereabouts during his hiatus.
On May 10, someone spotted Baxter wandering along the roadside near Grissom Parkway and Fay Boulevard in Mims and took him to the shelter. Aside from a matted coat, he was in good health, Craig Kline said.
"We think he was probably running around for quite a while," he said.
Clifton said Kline's 5.5-year reunion with Baxter is the longest she's aware of at her shelter.
About three years ago, Clifton said a Texas family vacationing in Brevard got in a wreck on Interstate 95, and their German Shepherd wandered off. The dog showed up at the CBHS shelter a couple months later, and his microchip led to his safe return home.
Michael McFarland, Brevard County animal services and enforcement director, estimated microchips are 98 percent accurate. His enforcement officers scan strays that are picked up in the field, in hopes of locating the owner before transport to the shelter.
McFarland said shelter workers also scan unclaimed dogs and cats one final time before euthanizing them.
"Believe me, it's cheap insurance to get your animal back," he said.
Source: http://www.clickorlando.com/family/28330069/detail.html
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Another version of the story with video: http://www.lifewithdogs.tv/2011/06/lost-dog-found-after-five-years-on-the-run/
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