Pinto missing in Poughkeepsie was safely captured last night after THIRTY THREE days on the run!
A new rescue arrival from Puerto Rico, Pinto was able to climb out and escape a six foot kennel run a day after arriving in NY.
Posters were hung but still sightings were few and far between.
Looking at the mapping, I saw that the Duchess Rail Trail was only a mile away, straight shot from the point of escape. I had a very strong feeling that Pinto would make his way there.
Poster coverage was dramatically expanded going in both directions off streets and areas of interests, such as parks and golf courses that were close to or bordering the rail trail. Thirteen hundred posters were hung! (Don’t worry, they will all be taken down now).
Two weeks later, my hunch was confirmed, a sighting finally came in…a brown and white dog was spotted sleeping in the woods right off the rail trail!!! Feeding stations and cameras were immediately set up but he eluded us.
A month to the day of Pinto escaping, a call came in that would lead to his capture…a police officer from the city of Poughkeepsie police department was making his early morning rounds through College Hill Park and golf course when he spotted a brown and white dog. He saw our poster that was hanging at the entrance of the park and called us immediately.
College Hill Park and golf course is directly off the rail trail, five miles from the point of escape. We headed over immediately and spoke with others in the park who had also sighted him. We knew this had to be our Pinto.
A trap was set and we waited for darkness to fall. Pinto found my trap at midnight and although he was gradually stepping in, he was also from the outside, going to the back, biting the trap and dragging it around with his mouth, shaking it like a rag doll to get the food out, mind you… this was a big, heavy trap. Watching this play out on camera all we could do was gasp and say “oh noooo are you kidding me?!” Our hearts dropped because we knew that he would prematurely set off the trap and that capture for that night was probably not going to happen.
I went home back to NJ for a few hours to sleep yesterday morning and made the two hour trek back to Poughkeepsie again last night, this time armed an enclosure. Going on fumes and zero sleep for days, I had just begun to nod off in my car when my camera went off, Pinto was back!!! Within moments he went right in and the door slammed shut behind him. Pinto’s thirty three days on the run was finally over!!
I have been doing rescues for the Sato Project for years. They ALWAYS stand behind their dogs and go above and beyond to bring them home. Luanne and Barbara, our lean mean poster hanging machines and Melissa who endured countless scam calls and a dead car battery, I couldn’t have done it without you three ladies, truly…SATO STRONG!! To the police officer who made that call, I wish I had your name, if you are reading this, we are eternally grateful. Ramapo Bergen Animal Refuge for once again opening your doors for me and these wayward pups in the middle of the night.
PINTO IS SAFE & SOUND!!!!
