Arizona (KPHO/Gray News) MARICOPA More than a year after being taken from his Alabama home, Rags, a cherished deaf Old English Sheepdog, was discovered in Arizona.
On December 8, 2023, Ring surveillance footage captures a masked man approaching a home in Silverhill, Alabama, entering the front door, and taking Rags with him.
Olivia Gardner, the dog’s owner, never imagined seeing Rags again.
Gardner recalled discovering his pet pig on the floor near the entrance the night he was taken, an experience he would never forget.
To help get her dog back, she created a GoFundMe campaign with a $5,000 prize, but nothing was found.
She then received a call from Arizona police on Thursday informing her that Rags had been discovered alive and well.
Gardner remarked, “I couldn’t even begin to describe the emotions I felt.” Tears of happiness, worry, joy, and sadness over the length of the travel were shed. The hardest part has undoubtedly been not knowing where he is or whether he is safe. We are so happy to have him home and be able to love him once more that I am at a loss for words.
After receiving a report that Rags was in Arizona, the Silverhill Police Department in Alabama reached out to the Maricopa Police Department in Arizona to conduct an investigation.
Officers discovered Rags at a Maricopa residence on Thursday.
According to Sgt. Chance Jordan of Maricopa Police, the residents of the house were not particularly cooperative.
It wasn’t until we were able to compare the microchip number with the serial number from the original Alabama Police Department documentation that we were certain this was Rags, he added, because they had given us a new name for the dog and it was wearing a collar with a third name on it.
There were rumors of a custody dispute involving the deaf special needs sheepdog, Rags, shortly after his disappearance last year.
Rags’ original owners had placed him for adoption before Gardner filed a case to reclaim him months later.
The original owners of Rags in Alabama are linked to the individuals who owned them in Arizona, according to Maricopa police.
Investigations are underway to determine the precise reason for the dog’s naps.
“That’s a good question, and I hope to get an answer to it someday,” Gardner remarked. Perhaps I won’t, but I do know that Rags’ family is eager to bring him home because they are sorely missing him here.
In the next days, Gardner is anticipated to take a plane to Arizona in order to return Rags home.
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