Ginny a hound/ shepherd mix originally a stray from Virginia, took off from her newly adopted home. The Sadie Mae Foundation contacted me and we put a plan in place. She stayed close to the area but was elusive and terrified. A feeding station was set up in the adopters back yard and like clockwork she would show up at night. Ginny was petrified of crates and anything above her head, she would not go in to a regular trap.
I decided that the best course of action would be to set up a large enclosure trap, monitored via a wireless camera video feed. Leaving the door to the enclosure tied open, would allow Ginny to enter and exit comfortably before setting the trap for capture. The first night the enclosure was up, Ginny cautiously went in, only part way, for three seconds, this was huge! Night two, she was in and out twice and feeding all the way in the back for three minutes... night three it was time to set for capture.
The neighborhood was crawling with cats who would regularly show up at the feeding station and go in my traps. Setting the enclosure to trigger on it's own was not an option, as I could not risk the cats setting it off and scaring Ginny away. I rigged the enclosure door with a fishing line going to a window at the house, where I would have to stand silently and monitor the enclosure and pull the line once I was certain she was all the way to the back. This was a one shot deal any false move and I could scare her away for good. Through the darkness, I watched. Like clockwork the big, black cat would show and then minutes later Ginny would appear. I stood there silently and watched her run around the enclosure and then take off just as she did each night before, she had a routine. I knew she'd be back. A half an hour later I heard the rustling of the leaves and a silhouette scooting around the enclosure, our girl was back and wanting the food that was in there. I had set up a very dimly lit solar light to the back of the enclosure so I could see ever so slightly when Ginny was in and at the back. Two minutes went by as I held that fishing line waiting and watching, she was in, I yanked the line and after eight long days and nights Ginny was finally safe!
