Zoe, the blue heeler, was lost in her snowy wanderings near Interstate 5 in Shoreline, Washington. Her distraught owners knew what to do.
They immediately uploaded a picture of their adorable cow dog to the huge “Lost Dogs of King County WA” Facebook group, where volunteers like moderator Lily Burns were waiting to assist.
I-5 is a screaming death trap, and Zoe’s owner, Laurel Gray, was “absolutely panicked” about the dog surviving the cold and avoiding it. “It was like as soon as we pressed ‘enter’ on the computer, she was there,” she said.
Burns, a self-employed designer and graphic designer, is one the oddball patron saints for abandoned dogs on the Facebook group. She provides advice and warns owners when people are being spotted.
Burns, along with two animal lovers, runs the Lost Dogs organization. This is why it stands out in an age of social media bullying and sniping. There are more lost dogs than the organization’s 33,000 members can swiftly handle, the animal control officers and shelters in the Seattle region have grown to rely on it.
Gray’s dogs were raised together with Ethan, Gray’s husband Tom, and Zoe. On New Year’s Eve, Zoe fled from Ethan’s yard, possibly scared by the fireworks.
The family had previously come across another person’s stray, which is how they learned about the Lost Dogs organization. This was their opportunity to seek help.
Burns was ready: She became involved in thousands upon thousands of cases each year, driven by her experiences with the healing power that dogs possess.
The volunteer admitted that “I can honestly say I’m more comfortable with dogs than with people. I don’t think there are any bad dogs.”
According to Kathy Pickart, a Kent retiree who was reunited with her Shih Tzu, Sidney, many people join the Lost Dogs group intending to find a specific dog but end up sticking around because they enjoy the community’s cheerful vibe.
Pickart said, “You follow these stories. You are definitely hooked.”
Tahmia DeReal, Kent nurse, said that Buddy the terrier-poodle mix she found with the help from the public was her first rescue. She has also helped other stray dogs twice.
Elisa Engel thought her dog Doug had been lost forever when he ran from Normandy Park. But the Lost Dogs organization was able to locate him in Delridge, 10 miles away. She declared, “It was miraculous.”
Burns joined Lost Dogs because she understands the anxiety that pet loss can cause. Her twin canines, Zoey Chihuahua mix, escaped when she was younger while out on a walk with her harness off. Within 20 minutes, the Zoey Chihuahua Mix was adopted. However, she claimed that those moments were marked with “shock, terror, dread … that I would never ever see her again.”
Burns gained more knowledge about the behavior of dogs and increased his precautions after the unfortunate incident. Even if their owner calls their name, or chases them after, dogs that are lost tend to run. Burns suggests waiting patiently and putting snacks out.
Burns set up a record-keeping system, and she shared her advice with the Lost Dogs group members shortly after joining. To later “make matches” between reports of lost dogs and stray dogs, she captures the posts, noting the breed and owner details. James Branson, the group’s founder, urged Burns to take on the role of moderator.
Branson is a dog guardian angel. He runs Useless Bay Sanctuary, a charity that helps dogs find their lost pets. He travels to the Puget Sound region for dogs that have gone missing. Burns is more active on Facebook.
To navigate around the Lost Dogs page, she logs on at eight in the morning. While her main home is in King County, she frequently monitors lost dog groups in other Puget Sound jurisdictions.
In June Branson held a fundraiser to help Burns. Participants donated more than $10,000. Branson stated, “She helps lost dogs every day because she is good at it, and because she cannot help.”
Tim Anderson, the agency’s lead sergeant, stated that “our goal is to always get animals reunited with people,” at Regional Animal Services of King County, which has contracts with 24 cities and runs an animal shelter in Kent.
Due to a shortage of shelter space and the fact that each animal costs taxpayers, he added, “We do a great job, but we don’t want people’s pets if we can help it.”
The Seattle Animal Shelter independently hires 12 police to cover the city in addition to the county’s eight animal control officers, who are on duty seven days a week in the suburbs. However, they are unable capture every stray animal.
Authorities sometimes suggest to callers that they use social media sites such as the Lost Dogs group. Staff members scan the Lost Dogs group and similar websites when strays arrive at the county’s shelter to see if they can find matches, according to Anderson. Online communities and those who can connect lost dogs with their owners directly are “a huge help to us,” he continued.
The county also maintains websites for lost or found animals. In addition to posting on social media, “We encourage people to always file a report with us” on lost and discovered dogs, Anderson said.
Esteban Rodriguez, director at the Seattle Animal Shelter, says that dogs should be equipped with microchips and license tags so their owners can be found if they are lost or discovered.
Anderson claims that the county doesn’t put animals to death in order to have enough shelter space, but it does have a limit on the number of pets. The COVID-19 pandemic began and many people got pets. However, the number of stray dogs in the county decreased between 2020 and 2021. However, as people “return to work and get back to the norm,” he claimed, it is already increasing.
Burns also noticed a shift in the Lost Dogs group. “We used to have 12 posts a day,” the woman recalled. “Now we have about 30.”
As Zoe was alone out in the snow, it was quickly passing in Shoreline. Even microchips are not always easy to capture dogs, like Zoe.
Burns advised the Grays to create lost dog posters that said “Do not chase” and to post them on numerous local apps. The group saw Zoe at random times as she moved from 145th Street to 185th Street, sometimes crossing I-5.
She spent some time sleeping on someone’s porch after accepting some food from “a guy at 185th and Corliss.” She was captured on camera by Ring.
Strangers were already searching for Zoe in a nearby park when the Grays arrived, since they had read about the case online.
“People we’d never met,” Gray said, “out there looking for her.”
Zoe was found in a random backyard by her neighbors two days after she disappeared. She was alive, though she smelled terrible and had blood on her feet.
Gray credited Burns and Branson, who along with other group members transformed the Lost Dogs group from a virtual message board into a real, caring community, saying, “My son and I were in the car and we were both crying.”
“Which is tremendous,” Gray remarked. “You don’t see that a lot.”
Source: The Seattle Times
