Dog missing in wake of Sandy is rescued hours before being put down
Buster was a 63-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback-shepherd mix, who ran away from his New York City home a few weeks after Hurricane Sandy hit. Buster had escaped from his yard in mid-November while construction workers were still assessing the damage inflicted by Hurricane Sandy in the neighborhood.
His owner Christine O’Donovan wasn’t home at that time but she believes that Buster may have been spooked by all the activity going on in the usually quiet neighborhood.
Christine and her family searched for Buster for weeks, but then they were forced to move to temporary housing in another area because of the wreckage caused by the superstorm.
Still Christine continued to make Calls to Animal Care and Control looking for Buster. The calls did no good however since the shelter had mistakenly listed Buster as a pit bull mix, and not a Ridgeback-shepherd mix.
Buster was in fact at the shelter and was just hours away from being euthanized on Dec. 12 when his owner’s friend, Kim Fraser, spotted his face on the Facebook page for Urgent Part 2 — a nonprofit that advocates for “Death Row Dogs.” The shelter had posted Buster’s picture on its nightly euthanasia list, and he was scheduled to be euthanized the next morning.
The next day when O'Donovan went to pickup her dog, Buster wasn’t the only one that left the shelter with her. O’Donovan also noticed a puppy pit bull mix named Nicko while she was there. Since she couldn’t bear to leave Nicko behind, she took him home along with Buster. Nicko is now up for adoption through her friend Kim Fraser’s rescue group, Sasha’s Mission. As for Buster, he was just very happy to be home with his family again.
One question: Where did they get "pit bull mix" from? This is part of the problem!! In a similar incident, a young girl kept calling the shelter describing her lost 19 yo cat -- the problem wasn't that the shelter didn't have the cat, they did. The problem was that the shelter listed the cat as an 8 yo cat so no one made the connection! So glad this had a happy ending. :-)
good ending!!!
I have a dog that I rescued off the street that was dumped I believe and he looks identical to this dog. When I took him to the vet to get his shots, the vet said he is a pit bull..He looks JUST LIKE this dog.
always nice to hear a good ending.
anyone with sense at that shelter would have carefully looked to see if the dog was microchipped secondly anyone Rhodesian ridgebacks have along their backs hairs that grow in the opposite direction of other hairs u can see the ridge going down their back...anyone would have known it was Rhodesian but anyway Im glad the dog is back home with its family