Early this year, an animal rescue team in Austin, Texas, received a troubling message from someone driving past the city’s airport. The concerned driver reported seeing not one, but two puppies playing in the middle of a busy highway with something unusual in common.
“[The] two dogs ‘wearing sweaters’ were reported [to be] in a busy median by the airport,” TRAPRS, the rescue organization, wrote in an Instagram Reel. “They were gone when we arrived, but airport staff … gave us permission to search nearby.”
The dedicated rescue team combed the area for the reported pups, but they had no luck finding either of them. As they searched, they gathered more information about the dogs from the airport staff.
“[We] learned that one of the dogs had been seen around the area for days,” TRAPRS wrote. “He had even dug a hole [under] a fence that put him in [a] dangerous area near the tarmac!”
The team amped up their search efforts, setting up game cameras around the airport to catch a glimpse of one of the pups. It wasn’t long before rescuers finally captured the image they were looking for.
A white dog, skinny and skittish, appeared on one of the cameras the following afternoon. He was alone and sweater-less, but the team had a feeling he was exactly who they were looking for.
After thumbing through local lost dog flyers, they found one for a dog named Max, identical to the pup they’d recorded. But there was only one way to know his identity for sure.
“We decided that we would capture the dog and then microchip scan [him] before giving anyone false hope,” TRAPRS wrote.
The team did just that, and a wave of relief washed over them when the microchip scanner beeped back with exciting news.
“It was confirmed by microchip that it was Max!” TRAPRS wrote.
The rescue team called Max’s mom and asked her about the lost pup. Minutes later, they drove to the woman’s workplace with the sweet boy in tow to surprise her.
“She had no idea we had Max with us,” TRAPRS wrote.
Max’s mom walked outside and fixed her eyes on the fluffy white dog in the truck. She deflated at first, thinking the rescued pup wasn’t her beloved Max. Then, she called his name, and he turned to her with a loving familiarity.
“It is him!” Max’s mom said in the reunion video.
You can watch that heartwarming moment here:
Max’s mom scooped him up and cradled him in her arms. As she snuggled her long-lost baby, she told his rescuers about his devastating escape.
“He had gone missing just after Christmas, and her family had been searching everywhere!” TRAPRS wrote. “There wasn’t a dry eye for miles.”
The TRAPRS team hugged Max and his mom goodbye then set their sights on finding the other dog reportedly seen with him. Thankfully, the second dog in a sweater was trapped by another Good Samaritan and reunited with his family shortly after.
The folks at TRAPRS have since closed the case on Max’s rescue and are now working on recovering even more lost pets in the Austin area. Their work is painstaking at times, but success stories like Max’s motivate them.
And the adorable boy continues to soak in all the love and snuggles his family can give him again thanks to TRAPRS’ efforts.
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Source: CNN