A Christmas Miracle, Part 1
In late November, 2022, our rescue friends in Philadelphia contacted us about Van, a sweet and playful adult German Shepherd that was surrendered to Philadelphia ACCT Shelter. According to the shelter, Van’s owner recently passed away and no provision was put into place for Van. The family did not want Van and abandoned her in a lot, where neighbors were left to care for Van.
When Van entered the shelter, she only weighed 54 pounds, which is about 15-20 pounds underweight. The tips of her ears were gone, it was difficult to know if she had lost them from fleas or possible frostbite, or dog scuffles.
As one would expect, Van was a little shy at first in the busy shelter, but she quickly became a favorite of the staff and received extra special treatment after she was spayed, surrounded by some fun and furry toys. Once room became available in our program, the “Lifesaving Team” at ACCT was able to arrange transportation from the shelter to one of our short-term foster homes. It took Van a few days to settle into a routine, but she quickly made friends with the two dogs in her foster home.
Van at her foster home, playing with her new friend Luke
Within a week of entering our program, a prior adopter was lined up to bring Van into her house as a foster-to-adopt dog. This program allows potential adopters to foster a Sedona dog on a short-term basis to make sure that the dog and new home are a suitable match. Unfortunately, on the first evening, a Sunday, Van darted out the front door when the foster mom went to get an Amazon package. Van’s almost two-week journey was just beginning.
Unfamiliar with the area and any people, Van was skeptical of returning back to the house. As it turns out, Van has the quickness of a pro athlete and would dart back and forth around the neighboring homes. Even with food, Van couldn’t be enticed to come back into the foster home. The foster left a food bowl out near the front door in hopes that she would return late at night or early in the morning. Since it was dark and she was already startled, we did not want to scare her and have her run out into the street and get hit by a car.
Sightings of Van over first week of her journey.
Van proved to be elusive for the first few days. We sprang into action, signing up on PawBoost to get Van’s story out, printing flyers and driving around the local neighborhood of Holiday City (which borders Toms River and Berkeley Township), and employing social media. We received offers of encouragement, advice and prayers for a safe return. However, it was the unexpected contact by Sadie’s Lost Dog and Rescue which would make all the difference in bringing Van home.
Holiday City is a very populated area with medium-sized lots and no fences. However, it also backs up to many walking trails, forested areas, small streams, and a large amount of unpopulated land for a scared and shy dog to hide. By the middle of the week, we received calls from local residents telling us of sightings of Van. Most of the sightings were along the edge of the wooded sections in a resident’s backyard. Sometimes, Van would come up to a door and lie down, but as soon as she saw someone Van would bolt away and be quickly out of sight.
During the week, Melissa from Sadie’s Lost Dog and Rescue became the lead person in organizing the search for Van. The challenge was enormous. First, Van was unfamiliar with the area and had wandered far enough from the foster home that she probably would not know how to get back. Second, Van was constantly running from people and was not settling down. Third, the number of wooded areas would make tracking her dauntless if she decided to move away from a populated area. Fourth, with winter approaching, we were concerned about her ability to stay warm, dry, and in good health. Finally, when we began tracking her movements on a map, the sightings were often times about 2-3 miles apart.
Our goal was to get Van to stay in a more concentrated area so that we could set up feeding stations and then set up a dog trap. By the end of the first week, combining reported sightings with the use of a drone, it appeared that we had narrowed her travels to two main areas. An added difficulty was that the sightings were on opposite sides of a very busy street (Mule Rd.). Melissa put out feeding stations at houses where Van was sighted, as well as placing cameras at the feeding stations. While we were lucky enough to know that Van was still alive, we were not having much luck with getting her to stay in one spot.
Another amazing person that was instrumental in the search for Van was Diane, a local resident with experience searching for animals and, of course, a love for dogs. Diane and Melissa did an overnight stakeout. When calls came to us about a sighting, Diane and Melissa would head over to the area. Late one night, Van came within about 100 feet of Diane and Melissa, but wouldn’t come any further. Despite nearby feeding stations, Van seemed to prefer ripping through garbage bags for food. That night, Van did come close enough to where we left burgers and other tasty options, but not close enough to catch.
By Wednesday of the second week, we were feeling a little more confident that Van had narrowed down her wanderings to a small enough section that we would soon be able to catch her. But then the trail went cold and the rain came down. After 10 days of receiving calls from in-person sightings and ring camera sightings, suddenly our phone stopped ringing. While we feared the worst, Melissa did not give up and explained how sometimes there can be days where there would be no sighting. The biggest concern was if Van decided to move on from the area.
Sunday morning, two weeks into our search for Van, we began placing flyers much further away from her last sightings. We chose the new locations based on our best estimate of the trail(s) she could be traveling. Around 10am that morning, a posting on PawBoost’s Facebook page alerted us to a possible sighting of Van in someone’s backyard. The description certainly matched Van, a black and tan German Shepherd with a lavender collar searching through garbage bags. This time, Van didn’t immediately run away, but she did slowly go back into the woods behind the backyard. Frustratingly, the woods were thick and deep, an area frequented by hunters because of the excessive number of deer. This location was also about 5 miles from where we last saw Van earlier in the week.
Would this be another time where we would catch glimpses of Van, but only have her disappear into the woods? Diane headed out to the location with food and walked the path where Van was seen heading. Van’s appetite was starting to get the better of her, but not enough to approach Diane and willing come back home. After an hour, Diane had to leave and Melissa’s search partner (Deb) came out with some tasty cheeseburgers and a very relaxed and calm demeanor. Deb was just hanging out with a trail of burgers leading to her car. Apparently, Van decided that her wanderlust was satisfied. She came over, took the burgers, and hopped into the car. When we arrived, Van was just sitting in the back seat of the car wondering what all the fuss was about. After almost 14 days on the run, we were expecting a scruffy-looking dog but other than smelling a bit like a skunk, Van was actually none the worse for the wear. Bringing Van back home was a true Christmas miracle.
As a final note, literally (not figuratively) every person we asked for help (either putting up feeding stations, setting up cameras, allowing us to walk through yards, handing out flyers, and posting on social media) offered their time and support. We met so many people from all walks of life. Although the situation was stressful, over the two weeks the help and love we received was a testament to all that is good with people. There is just an amazing community in the Holiday City, Berkeley, Lacey area, and of course, all of New Jersey.