(Photo: MGAP Facebook page)
A very happy ending to a four day search for an eight year old retired greyhound who went missing in Greater Moncton.
On March 22, Laci decided to go on an adventure, after managing to get out of the backyard of her home on Shediac Road near Dieppe.
Owner Deb Levasseur says she tried to chase after her, but quickly realised, she couldn’t run 40 miles an hour. That’s when they began the initial search.
Levasseur says it was amazing to see how the community came together.
She says she was overwhelmed by all of the support and offers received to help with the search, “I met people in my neighbourhood, I’ve lived here for many years and I had never met them before. Strangers were texting me, calling me, putting up signs, donating stuff. It was just absolutely amazing.”
Several people reported seeing the Laci in the area of Highway 15 near the airport. Motorists reported seeing her cross the highway at least four times. Levasseur says there were fresh dog paw prints on the side of the Highway, so they knew Laci had been there.
“The first night when the sun went down, it was devastating, the thought of her sleeping alone in the woods somewhere. We didn’t know what could have happened to her,” Levasseur says.
Levasseur is the Founder of the Maritime Greyhound Adoption Program, and she says her posts on Facebook were viewed by thousands.
“Comments were being posted from people who wanted to help look for Laci, or who were just watching for her along the Highway. We had live traps set up, clothing spread around, food bowls, and three people even used drones to help in the search,” Levasseur says.
She says at one point, they went 24 hours without a sighting.
After four days, on the evening of March 25th, the good news came, “On Thursday evening, Amanda Fielding and Chris Smith called and said they had Laci in their sights on the side of Highway 15. Coincidentally, they are two people who applied to adopt a dog from MGAP. It was so sweet. I told them not to get out of their car and that my boyfriend would be there in less than five minutes. They just sat there and kept their eyes on her. When my boyfriend got there, he approached her very slowly, waited until she recognized him. He called her, ‘Laci girl’, and she looked at him, her ears perked up, and her tail starting wagging, and she stood up. He just went right to her. He slowly put the collar on her and she started to shake she was so relieved The people watching said it was so emotional just to see the connection. It was emotional for all of us,” Levasseur says.
Laci was exhausted, hungry and weak, but Levasseur says she was thrilled to be home, “Laci is doing awesome now. The pads on her feet were worn off and she was malnourished and very weak, with a few little cuts and things like that. She is doing very well now and she is getting her strength back. Her feet are healing and she is really happy to be back home.”
Levasseur says they were very lucky to find her when they did, “After she was found, the weather changed, and the nights got very cold again. If she had been out overnight in the snow and rain, she never would have made it.”
Because of Levasseur’s extensive experience with dogs, she has this advice for others, “It’s important that your dog have an ID tag on them. Prevention is the key. Regularly, check the latches on your gates. Often, if your dog does get out, it can be very emotional in the moment, and it is hard to think. It is best for every dog owner to have a really good game plan set in their mind, just in case.”
She says in the 15 years running MGAP, she has helped many others search for greyhounds that have gotten loose, but never her own.
