A New Year brings a new life for this miracle girl!
November 7, 2023 was the first sighting of this little stray. She was running seven towns…Irvington, Newark, East Orange, Orange, South Orange and Maplewood. She navigated extremely dangerously city streets, often times almost being hit.
Kelly Conover, Marcia Sandford and I worked around the clock for months tracking her travel patterns, setting up feeding stations and traps and connecting with the community who embraced and supported us and our efforts with open arms.
We were faced with so many obstacles in a densely populated urban area. Back in December as I was setting a trap, I turned around and she was standing in the middle of the street watching me, I quickly moved away hoping we would get her. She circled the trap but got spooked off by a man who would not allow us to be in his empty parking lot.
The amount of feral cat colonies were a blessing and a curse. She had countless areas to eat and our goal was to connect with the cat feeders and figure out just where she was eating. Upon chance, while I was sitting in my truck watching a trap, a cat feeder known to the community as “Mama Meow” knocked on my window because she saw a trap in the back of my truck. She was concerned that I was trapping her cats. As soon as I told her I was working on catching a dog, she said follow me. She graciously brought me to each of her feeding areas. We got permission to set up cameras but she would never step foot down a driveway. She was so smart, she stuck to sidewalks and streets knowing she couldn’t be caught or cornered, a true street dog.
She began showing at a different colony on the next street over and once again we set up. She was inconsistent with her days and times that she would appear. Snowstorms, rain storms also delayed us but we persevered. Yesterday, she was a no show and today I almost didn’t go due to a migraine but something told me I had to go. I said I would stay till three and then pack it in. At 2:58 while I was on the phone with Kelly planning out our schedules for the weekend of replenishing feeding stations and trapping, I look up and no joke the dog is literally running down the street beelining it coming straight towards the trap. I ducked down in my truck and held my phone up to video and watch her and BOOM she finally went in to safety with the trap door slamming shut behind her. I called Kelly “WE GOT HER” and cried happy tears!!!
We are so thankful to everyone who called in sightings, all 150 plus of them. The residents of the Irvington neighborhood who allowed three crazy women access to all that was needed to bring her to safety. After she was trapped, residents of one of the apartment buildings across the street were cheering out the windows and coming out to hug me. The amount of love and support this crazy little dog with huge ears received from so many strangers was overwhelming and restored our faith in humanity. We had hoped to capture her for Christmas and had named her Dasher.
Dasher is now safe and sound while we secure rescue for her. She is not microchipped and is still very frightened but also very relieved to be snuggled up in a warm bed for the first time in months.
NEVER GIVE UP, we never did!
