10,000 Page Views!

Over the weekend, this blog hit 10,000 views! I couldn't believe it when I saw the number this morning.

This is wonderful news for all the missing animals to help their stories remain alive and active, and for all the lucky animals who made it home!

Thank you everybody for reading their stories!

"Casper," DSH, Black with White, Cupertino -Found!

Casper is a two year old, neutered, indoor/outdoor, black and white DSH. He is not wearing a collar, but he is microchipped.

He was last seen by the husband around 8 AM Monday morning. The only sighting of Casper was in a neighbor's yard later in the same morning. This is a house that Casper regularly visits. We started our search from there.

The track led to a local recreation/farm area where a lot of local events are held. It was only a few blocks from Casper's home. It appeared that Casper was there on a regular visit. However, it also appeared that something happened while Casper was there because the track leading out of the farm, back to his home, suddenly turned around and ran back into the farm. From there the track zig zagged all around the farm and then shot out of the farm. From there the track led around Cupertino and, eventually, into Sunnyvale. The search was stopped at 8:30 PM when it was dark. That was Friday night.

I received an email on Sunday afternoon that Casper suddenly returned home, walking through his cat door.

My guess is that Casper was picked up inside the farm/recreation area and carried away. His person said that Casper is generally not friendly toward strangers and does not allow people to hold him. Probably he was forcibly grabbed and put into a bag/backpack. Eventually, Casper got away and made his way back home. He was gone for a one week.




View Casper Cupertino in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total distance: 21.78 km (13.5 mi)
Total time: 5:45:13
Moving time: 3:11:48
Average speed: 3.79 km/h (2.4 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.81 km/h (4.2 mi/h)
Max speed: 57.04 km/h (35.4 mi/h)
Average pace: 15.85 min/km (25.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 8.80 min/km (14.2 min/mi)
Min pace: 1.05 min/km (1.7 min/mi)
Max elevation: 122 m (399 ft)
Min elevation: 27 m (88 ft)
Elevation gain: 678 m (2225 ft)
Max grade: 2 %
Min grade: -2 %
Recorded: 5/18/2012 2:40 PM
Activity type: -

"Timmy," DSH, White with Black, San Jose

Timmy is an indoor/outdoor, 10 month old, black with white DSH. He is not wearing a collar, but he is microchipped. 

He was last seen at approximately 10 PM as he left the house. He never returned in the morning. There were no sightings of Timmy after he disappeared. 

The track we found appeared to immediately start from in front of his house and then take off down the street.

There are a lot of similarities to a cat being carried by a human and a cat walking on their own. Within the hour of the start of the track, it appeared more and more that Timmy had been picked up and was being carried by somebody. That person, most likely, was a transient, coming through his neighborhood in the middle of the night, when Timmy disappeared. 

By the second day, it was quite possibly that Timmy had been given to another person, different than the one who originally picked him up. That was evident due to the fact that on the second day, the track led straight up El Camino, all the way to Palo Alto, which is where the track was stopped at the four hour mark because Timmy's person had a class to get to at 1 PM. 

She said she would continue to look for Timmy. 

Day #1:

View Timmy San Jose in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total distance: 15.90 km (9.9 mi)
Total time: 5:42:53
Moving time: 2:45:21
Average speed: 2.78 km/h (1.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.77 km/h (3.6 mi/h)
Max speed: 10.74 km/h (6.7 mi/h)
Average pace: 21.56 min/km (34.7 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 10.40 min/km (16.7 min/mi)
Min pace: 5.59 min/km (9.0 min/mi)
Max elevation: 48 m (157 ft)
Min elevation: 2 m (7 ft)
Elevation gain: 462 m (1516 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 5/14/2012 10:04 AM
Activity type: -

Day #2:

View Timmy San Jose Day 2 in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total distance: 14.00 km (8.7 mi)
Total time: 3:48:46
Moving time: 2:19:31
Average speed: 3.67 km/h (2.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.02 km/h (3.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 24.82 km/h (15.4 mi/h)
Average pace: 16.34 min/km (26.3 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 9.97 min/km (16.0 min/mi)
Min pace: 2.42 min/km (3.9 min/mi)
Max elevation: 46 m (151 ft)
Min elevation: 1 m (3 ft)
Elevation gain: 504 m (1652 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 5/16/2012 8:26 AM
Activity type: -

"Grady," DSH, Grey, San Francisco

Still Missing as of May 21, 2012.

Grady is an indoor only, nine year old, 10 lb. solid grey DSH. He is wearing a blue collar with an ID tag and he is microchipped. 

He got out of the house by accident when a roommate let a door open for a few minutes. 

There were several possible sightings of Grady, but only one person confirmed the blue collar, and it was known that another grey cat similar to Grady also lived in the area. We started at the only sighting that was definite she saw a blue collar on this cat. 

We followed the track for many miles, and the search was stopped at the four hour minimum by Grady's person. He said he would continue to look for him. 

View Grady San Francisco in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total distance: 9.38 km (5.8 mi)
Total time: 3:08:57
Moving time: 1:44:30
Average speed: 2.98 km/h (1.9 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.38 km/h (3.3 mi/h)
Max speed: 9.26 km/h (5.8 mi/h)
Average pace: 20.15 min/km (32.4 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 11.15 min/km (17.9 min/mi)
Min pace: 6.48 min/km (10.4 min/mi)
Max elevation: 82 m (268 ft)
Min elevation: -18 m (-58 ft)
Elevation gain: 419 m (1374 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 5/2/2012 10:11 AM
Activity type: -

"Abby," Pomeranian, Black, Vallejo - Found!

Abby is a six year old, six lb. all black Pomeranian with a grey muzzle. She is not wearing a collar and does not have a microchip. 

Abby got loose when a roommate was moving out of the house and Abby bolted from the door and down the street. There were several sightings of Abby in the neighborhood.

Abby is, per her person, terrified of all people and rarely ever leaves the house. She had only been in this home for a couple of months. Prior to that she had lived with a relative of her current home.

We followed Abby's track for two days, several hours each day. There were several homeless camps and a lot of following in the same areas over and over. We stopped the search at the request of Abby's person.

I received an email several days later saying that Abby had been found. I emailed back three times asking where and when Abby had been found, but I never received a response. 

Day #1 Track:

View Abby Vallejo in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total distance: 15.13 km (9.4 mi)
Total time: 5:54:15
Moving time: 2:40:57
Average speed: 2.56 km/h (1.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.64 km/h (3.5 mi/h)
Max speed: 10.74 km/h (6.7 mi/h)
Average pace: 23.41 min/km (37.7 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 10.64 min/km (17.1 min/mi)
Min pace: 5.59 min/km (9.0 min/mi)
Max elevation: 58 m (189 ft)
Min elevation: -15 m (-50 ft)
Elevation gain: 562 m (1844 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 4/30/2012 9:40 AM
Activity type: -


Day #2 Track:


View Abby Vallejo Day 2 in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total distance: 728.73 km (452.8 mi)
Total time: 3:28:35
Moving time: 1:48:23
Average speed: 209.62 km/h (130.3 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 403.42 km/h (250.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 869.43 km/h (540.2 mi/h)
Average pace: 0.29 min/km (0.5 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 0.15 min/km (0.2 min/mi)
Min pace: 0.07 min/km (0.1 min/mi)
Max elevation: 62 m (204 ft)
Min elevation: -9 m (-30 ft)
Elevation gain: 354 m (1160 ft)
Max grade: 2 %
Min grade: -1 %
Recorded: 5/1/2012 10:33 AM
Activity type: -

"Potter," DSH, Grey, Capitola - Found!

(My note: I received the following email the day after our search.)

"Hi Jackie,

We have good news!  After canvassing the neighborhood handing out flyers, Potter showed up!  We heard a cat fight last night, but it was broken up before we could get out to see who was fighting.  We think he might have showed up last night and gotten in a fight before he could get back to our house.  He's now gobbling down lots and lots of food!

Thank you for your help yesterday!

Andrea"

Potter is a 17lb, six year old, all grey DSH. He only recently was going outside to his large backyard. He went out to the yard one morning and did not come home. He is wearing a collar with an ID tag, and he is microchipped. 

There were no sightings of Potter after he went missing. 

The track we found led in various directions throughout San Jose. The track was forced to stop when it went under a chainlink fence into a large, wooded creek area with no public access. We were around the five hour mark at that point. 

I received the above email the next day.

View Potter San Jose in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total distance: 8.94 km (5.6 mi)
Total time: 3:31:39
Moving time: 1:31:17
Average speed: 2.53 km/h (1.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 5.88 km/h (3.7 mi/h)
Max speed: 8.89 km/h (5.5 mi/h)
Average pace: 23.68 min/km (38.1 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 10.21 min/km (16.4 min/mi)
Min pace: 6.75 min/km (10.9 min/mi)
Max elevation: 46 m (151 ft)
Min elevation: 4 m (12 ft)
Elevation gain: 387 m (1270 ft)
Max grade: 0 %
Min grade: 0 %
Recorded: 4/27/2012 12:54 PM
Activity type: 

"Lucy," Terrier/Cattle Dog X, Campbell - Found

Lucy was found deceased on a highway following our search. 

Lucy was a nine month old black and white Cattle dog mix. She was wearing an orange bandana, a collar with a microchip tag and she was microchipped. 

Lucy was adopted by her current home only about two months prior to getting loose. She was found as a stray in Fresno. 

Lucy jumped from a parked car as her person was inside a store at a shopping center. 

She was missing for one week at the time we did our search. 

The track we found led away from the shopping center and continued for a couple of miles. Then the track turned and went into a secluded creek area. The track eventually led out of the creek and down a single block long street. At the end of the street is an entrance to a very busy expressway. The rest of the street has no outlets. 

We could not find any track leading out of the street. It did not go out to the expressway. It did not go back out to the area of the creek, and there was no way out on either side of the street. Apartment buildings and office buildings with very tall walls were on both sides. 

I explained that this meant that Lucy was picked up on that street and put into a car with the windows rolled up and driven away. At this point, Lucy's person stopped the search. 

On our way back to the cars, she received a phone call that Lucy had been found deceased on a highway by a passerby and the person had pulled the orange bandana from the body, but had not called animal control to pick up the body. According to this person, she saw the body of Lucy for several days, but did not do anything. The finder told Lucy's person that she saw the body on the highway within 24 to 48 hours after Lucy's disappearance. Then this person saw a flyer posted for Lucy, remembered the dog on the highway, pulled off the bandana and called the number on the flyer. I believe the highway was 280.

Lucy's person was convinced that Dino was never following Lucy's current track, but that Lucy took off from the shopping center and eventually made it to the highway where she was hit. 

I offered another outcome. I believe that Lucy's was picked up by a person on the street in a car where the search ended, and that it was probably the first night that Lucy's disappeared. I think this person was either coming off the expressway or entering it. I believe that this person got Lucy to get into her car, but, maybe was not able to read the tags right away if Lucy was the shy and scared dog I was told she was. The person drove to their home and attempted to read the tags from inside the car, or get Lucy out of the car, but Lucy bolted and took off. Now Lucy was loose again, in a totally new area, possibly near the area of the highway where she was hit, which, I was told, was just a few miles from where the search ended. 

What shocked me the most about this case was that nobody called animal control for over one week to tell them about the body. And, that this person saw the body on the highway for several days, and never made an attempt to check the collar or call animal control. 

View Lucy Campbell in a larger map

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total distance: 10.54 km (6.5 mi)
Total time: 3:52:49
Moving time: 1:40:33
Average speed: 2.72 km/h (1.7 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 6.29 km/h (3.9 mi/h)
Max speed: 11.48 km/h (7.1 mi/h)
Average pace: 22.09 min/km (35.6 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 9.54 min/km (15.4 min/mi)
Min pace: 5.23 min/km (8.4 min/mi)
Max elevation: 64 m (209 ft)
Min elevation: 29 m (96 ft)
Elevation gain: 393 m (1289 ft)
Max grade: 3 %
Min grade: -8 %
Recorded: 4/24/2012 2:48 PM
Activity type: -