Nanaimo lost dog captured after 73 days on the loose
A four-year-old border collie has been captured after 73 days on the loose on Vancouver Island, much to the relief of a volunteer organization that was tracking the animal’s movements.
Jill Oakley, owner of Find Lost and Escaped Dogs Vancouver Island (FLED), says Rigby took off from his Nanaimo foster home on Jan. 25 and experienced a harrowing journey before he was caught by volunteers on April 9.
“He went from Nanaimo to Cedar to Cassidy back to Nanaimo, up to Parksville and back to Nanaimo,” Oakley says.
Oakley believes Rigby followed the railroad tracks a lot of the time. She isn’t sure how he managed to avoid being hit by vehicles during his many days on the run.
She says the first four years of Rigby’s life were not good.
“He was in a hoarding situation in Denver, Colorado, and came out with 60 dogs," she says. "He was seized by authorities down there, that’s the story we got."
He was brought to Nanaimo and was adopted to a home and lasted eight days before taking off on Jan. 25.
“We were called on the 26th and we had been tracking him all this time," she says. "Several times we thought we had him when he came into Cassidy and when he went into a farmer’s field."
The FLED group sets up feeding stations and traps with cameras to try to capture the animals.
“We thought we had him for sure in February, for sure, but he outwitted us,” she says.
Rigby was also captured on a doorbell camera at the beginning of April in the driveway of a home.
“That is what’s so tough," she says. "You see him and then you get everybody ready to go and you get your equipment up there and ready to go and he’s gone. It was really a tough case."
Now that he is safely back in human hands, Oakley says her group will try to calm Rigby down. He will also have vet and grooming appointments later this week.
“He’s been a little freaky boy ever since he got here," she says. "If I gave him the chance he would be gone again. He’s in that kind of mode right now. He’s a complicated little soul."
Oakley is calling Rigby the group’s latest success story, proving that owners should never give up on their missing animals, she says.
“He’s like the Littlest Hobo," she says. "We had five just amazing volunteers helping us out up in Nanaimo and if it wasn’t for them I don’t know that we would have been able to track him as good as we did."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Hamas rocket attack from Gaza sets off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv for the first time in months
Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza that set off air raid sirens as far away as Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday in a show of resilience more than seven months into Israel's massive air, sea and ground offensive.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Blaine Higgs 'furious' over sexual education presentation
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has shared his anger on social media over a presentation in at least four high schools.
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
Indianapolis 500 delayed as strong storm forces fans to evacuate Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The start of the Indianapolis 500 was delayed as a strong storm pushed through the area Sunday, forcing Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials to evacuate about 125,000 fans who had already arrived for "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing."
Driver, 18, gets $3,000 ticket, 32 demerit points after speeding on Laval boulevard
A young driver received a hefty fine from Laval police after they say he was driving nearly 100 km/h over the posted speed limit.
At least 9 dead in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after severe weather roars across region
Powerful storms killed at least nine people and left a wide trail of destruction Sunday across Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas after obliterating homes and destroying a truck stop where drivers took shelter during the latest deadly weather to strike the central U.S.
As Canada warms, infectious disease risks spread north
Cases of Lyme disease have now increased more than 1,000 per cent in a decade as the warming climate pushes the boundaries of a range of pathogens and risk factors northward.