Friday, December 18, 2009

Search party to find Chase

From Jackie:

Hi Everyone,

Chase the beagle mix went missing from his new home last Saturday evening. He was lost on his FIRST NIGHT home!

I want to organize a search party for Saturday to do a sweep of the area that Chase was lost in. He was lost from Van Dusen Blvd in the Bloor/Islington area of Toronto.

It would be a terrible tragedy for him to have been saved from death row in Athens, Ohio only to have him die alone, cold, hungry, and frightened somewhere on a Toronto street. We simply MUST find him!

So if anyone could take some time away from xmas shopping & come out and join the search party it would be so greatly appreciated. The more eyes looking for Chase, the higher the probability of finding him.

If you can spare the time and are able to come out please contact me here at besslin@ sympatico.ca. We will form a plan, meeting time/place tomorrow & hopefully we will find Chase on Saturday.

Thank You

12 comments:

Amy said...

Unfortunately, I cannot help search as I live in Georgia. However, my rescue has conducted several organized searches for missing dogs. They need to cover the area in fliers. They should have MISSING in big letters, a decent sized photo of the dog, and a phone number in big letters at the bottom. Chances are that the dog will not show himself if he is scared. He will move late at night and very early in the morning, when it is quiet. If someone sees him, they need to know who to call. Signs are key and need to be all over the place for a several mile radius.

I have faith that he will be found. My Lucky survived 17 days on her own, and we found her 5.5 miles from where she was lost. I am sending lots of good thoughts and prayers to those searching on Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Check your email. I'm around on Saturday.

Agree with Amy about the flyers. The suggestion about going during a quiet time (like early morning) makes sense.

Why do these little guys have to bolt during the coldest nights of the year...we went looking for Penny this time last year.

Anonymous said...

What an impressive group of rescuers showed up for the search party, driving all the way from south of Brantford as well as Cambridge. Some had their delightful dogs with them. If Chase had been around, the dogs would have spotted him. But there are a lot of parks, ravines and a creek in the area. Hopefully, that will keep him away from the busy streets.

Sightings of Chase have been reported in his Van Dusen (Bloor & Islington) neighbourhood, including a sighting in the past couple of days near the Kingsway Vet Hospital, and another on Springbrook (if I'm not mistaken) a block south of Van Dusen. He was also spotted beside a shed where he may have been sheltering.

The only posted flyers that we could find were the ones taped up by the search party.

It looks as though the Black Angus steakhouse, close to the vet clinic, would be a destination and someone has left food out there.

Several rescuers were hoping to get a humane trap (coyote sized) to leave in the vicinity. Does TAS have something they could lend? I'm guessing that Toronto Wildlife Centre would have one, but they are overwhelmed and this is a domestic pet.

Also, I heard that 22 Division is putting flyers in all the police cruisers. That is awesome.

The adopters' home does have a fence. Unfortunately, it's probably not even 3 feet high in the front, and there are other ways he could have bolted since he was off-leash. They weren't home when we left flyers with neighbours.

I hope Chase is hungry enough to trust someone to help him.

Fred said...

Thanks for the update, redstarcafe. When I'm in next at TAS, I can ask about a trap. I think the concern will be who will be who will be keeping an eye on it.

Anonymous said...

Fred, several of the volunteers indicated that they'd be willing to bait and watch the trap. Those that had experience trapping cats said that, since Chase is skittish, he might be more willing to come to food. The trap would be set near the vet hospital and steakhouse, at the back, covered with a blanket as a disguise. The volunteers would wait in the car and watch. This would be something they'd be willing to do during an evening.

Of course, they might wind up with other wildlife (there was a fox today).

Anonymous said...

The group managed to borrow a live trap on Sunday. Chase had been spotted at Queensway and Kipling on Saturday night. On Sunday, he was spooked and had taken off down to Horner and Judson then the Lakeshore heading west. No place for a dog.

Jackie has started a collection to buy live traps to have available to any rescue that needs them in the future. Anyone who's interested in helping out can go to Jackie's blog:

http://pets4adoption.blogspot.com/

Marcie said...

I've read plenty about this lost pup online. Keeping my fingers crossed he makes his way home for Christmas. The streets are no place for any animal in this cold let alone one who was lucky enough to already be saved. Keep us posted.

borderjack said...

Are there posters? They need to wallpaper Col. Sam Smith park and the surrounding area and college campus...lots of places for a dog to hide. I was there on the weekend but didn't see a lone dog. If there are posters, I can go in the evening and put some up?

borderjack said...

Thanks...went looking in the west end tonight, but no luck.

Anonymous said...

Good grief, I'm not only repeating myself but providing wrong links. Fred, can you delete the spurious posts? Here are the proper links:

The Facebook link is:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=237200909594&ref=search&sid=562380780.2735621134..1

The Yahoo Groups link is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/findchase

borderjack said...

Thanks for the info, redstar. Seems like they've had legit sightings. I went out to kipling, but I guess we have to look farther west...

Anonymous said...

I'm amazed at how well they've tracked him so far, but now that he's getting into New Toronto, I'm hoping the media will help get the word out.