After 36 long hours Liz has come home! We found her at approximately 8:30 this morning at the intersection of E. Park and Atlantic Avenues, one block east of Price near the railroad tracks. Her rescue would not have been possible had it not been for the tips we received yesterday. A special thanks to all of those who reported sightings of Liz. Without your input, her rescue may not have been possible.
Finding Liz was the culmination of an incredibly eventful morning. As noted in our previous post, we did our first overnight search for Liz earlier today, checking Forsyth Park on foot at around 1 am and then driving block by block between Forsyth and Broad St. for more than an hour, knowing she had last been spotted on Gwinnett. Though we arrived home after 2 am without her, we felt like we were beginning to build serious momentum. Before falling asleep, I went to work on a new flyer with some updated information that we planned to begin distributing when we woke up.
We got up at 7 am and were at FedEx Kinko's on Broughton at 7:30 getting copies of the new flyer. Coffees in hand, we drove back to the Forsyth area and began hanging signs on Gwinnett. Recognizing the importance of creating an eastern perimeter of signs to act as a net for Liz (we had hung signs on Montgomery to the west already), we crossed Broad St. and began posting signs on Atlantic Ave. at around 8 am. Our plan was to walk south on Atlantic to Anderson, and then head west back to the Park area.
We had just posted a sign at the intersection of Atlantic and E. Waldberg when I looked up and saw a black dog walking west down E. Park, just one block ahead of us. We knew right away that it was Liz! Though she was limping a bit, she looked good for having been on the run for 36 hours. We immediately began calling her name. Liz stopped and looked at us, very interested but still confused. Unfortunately for us, her survival instincts were still engaged, and she began jogging down E. Park toward Price, not sure what to make of the situation. Maggie and Barksdale began running towards E. Park, while I turned and sprinted west down Waldberg, hoping to cut her off.
As I reached the railroad tracks that run through the middle of the block, I saw just what I had been hoping to see: Liz had made a right turn onto the tracks and was now running directly at me! As she got closer, I tossed her favorite toy in her direction thinking it would distract her. Sure enough, she slowed down at the toy and then continued all the way to me. She collapsed against me and I put my arms around her to ensure she was not going anywhere. After what seemed like forever but was probably around ten seconds, Maggie and Barksdale appeared on the tracks ahead of me. Upon seeing that I had Liz, Mags immediately burst into tears and began running towards us. Having the pack together in that moment is something we will surely remember for the rest of our lives.
The spot where we finally caught the little trouble maker
As I write this, Liz is sleeping peacefully on our bed with a full belly. She will be there for another hour, at which time I will wake her up for a trip to Central Animal Hospital.
To all of you who sent us messages of support and concern over the past few days, we are eternally grateful. We are sure that this helped keep her out of harm's way. And again, a special thanks to those of you who phoned us with tips. We are forever in your debt.
John
