02/12/2025
With each Rescue, I post with the hopes of educating the public. Lilly‘s story shows the good, the bad, and the ugly of rescue in every aspect. If her story can help just one dog then everything that we went through in the past 17 days, all the blood sweat and tears will have been worth it so that no other dog has to go through the trauma that Lilly endured.
The general public sees the happy endings posted on social media, but what they don’t see is what truly goes into these rescues. It is not simply throw down that magic box trap and the dog magically finds it. It’s not put up a post on Facebook and the sighting comes in and everybody runs out and finds the dog. It is far from that.
Although most don’t understand the methods that we may use, and they may not make sense to most people, the methods used are always in the best interest of the dog, to bring the dog to safety. I can assure you the people sitting behind their keyboards posting that the dog isn’t being captured fast enough to their liking or that we should be doing this or that, is most definitely not army crawling under fences along highways or sleeping in their cars for weeks on end in snow storms in the freezing cold. These rescues are not tv sitcoms that end in thirty minutes all wrapped in a bow for people’s entertainment.
Lilly and her sister were abandoned in Texas when their owners moved out. Two women who lived nearby were able to gain their trust and fostered them until they could secure rescue. Lilly went to a rescue, the other one did not because that dog did not “look lab enough” to the liking of the rescue that took Lilly so only Lilly was loaded on the back of an 18 wheeler truck with countless other dogs and transported across the country to New York. Upon arriving to New York, to a commuter lot off the New York State Thruway, Lilly, who is terrified of men, was dragged out of her crate with a snare pole by the transport driver, who was a man. As he attempted to put a slip lead around her neck. Scared and traumatized, Lilly reacted in terror of the man and proceeded to run out the back of the 18 wheeler where the door was left open.
The transport notified the rescue that she escaped. They chased her pushing her from the area and once they no longer had eyes on her they left her and proceeded on their merry way to stay on schedule for their next drop off destination for another batch of dogs. Lily was left behind to fend for herself miraculously, navigating her way and surviving alongside the New York State Thruway, the Palisades Parkway and railroad tracks.
BDRR was contacted and headed out the very next morning. While on site we quickly located fresh paw prints in the snow. These paw prints were in a different commuter lot that backed right up to the exit ramp of the New York State Thruway. Cameras and traps were set, but she was a no-show. The next morning we located her across the New York State Thruway, this time hunkered down, curled up in a tiny little ball trying to stay warm and out of sight in the reeds alongside a chain-link fence on the highway side of the Thruway. We were not only mindful of the fact that one false move, could send her to her death, we were also frightened that it could potentially cause a serious accident to anybody driving on the Thruway. This case had to be handled so carefully due to the location where she was. She would pop out of those reeds along the highway and people would see her and pull over and try to catch her. Posts were being made on social media that were sending people to the location trying to search for her which was only putting her in more peril. We were in constant communication with the admins from the lost pet pages to get all posts removed of her location and to beg people to stay away from the area.
There was no place close to where those reeds were that we could safely position a trap. We had to lure her over to a wooded area alongside the highway. To get to this area, we had to army crawl and scale ravines alongside the highway. Lilly finally found our trap but would not go in, she would circle it for hours and then go back to her safe space in the reeds alongside the highway on the hill. A large enclosure trap was brought in and we asked that her bed from her former foster be overnighted to us in the hopes that something familiar to her would help her progress in and it worked like a charm. We worked for five days around the clock to condition her to step foot over the threshold of the enclosure, all the while with our hearts in our throats, and fending off people who kept showing up to get eyes on her or to get a photo of “the highway dog”. At one point, we stopped a woman that was chasing her on opposite sides of the fence with her vehicle.
We finally had Lilly going into the enclosure and it was set for capture. However, Lilly was a no-show for the next two nights and we couldn’t understand why as we had her on schedule for five solid days. What could’ve gone wrong?! Well, that Monday morning after the snowstorm, as I was coming out of the chain-link fence from tying the the enclosure open, I was met by two women who were there to see if they could find fresh prints in the snow. They informed me that two days prior they had come searching for Lilly and taking poles to poke and search through the reeds for her, in their words, they knew that trappers were on site working the case, but but they saw a post on Facebook that “Lilly was continuing to evade the trappers and they wanted to help come find her”. My heart dropped and we now knew why Lilly never came back to our enclosure that night. LILLY WAS GONE and with broken hearts we had to start from scratch with locating her again. This is why it is so important when working working a lost dog case that we ask that all sightings be kept off of social media. Well-intentioned people coming out looking for the dogs can be one of the biggest hindrance in Lost Dog recovery. Lilly unmercifully endured an additional ten days in the bitter cold and snow due to this.
Posters went up, sightings were few and far between but one of the sightings we received, she was now miles away alongside the Palisades Parkway. We kept these sightings under wrap. We did not want to continue to push her further. We are eternally grateful for the admins of the lost pet pages who would delete sightings and posts as quickly as they were being posted.
We finally received a call from one of the towns plow truck drivers, Jeff, who spotted Lilly running frantically in the snow. We now knew that she had made her to another location off the NY State Thruway miles from her last sighting. The next morning we spotted fresh prints, in the same spot where we had found her prints that very first day that we came on site to take the case. The enclosure trap was moved and set up behind the cement highway barricades. As I was setting up Lilly and I came face-to-face as she popped her head out from behind a barricade alongside the woods of the highway, she was peeking to see what I was doing. I ignored her and continued to set up the enclosure. At that same time, a horrific accident occurred on the Thruway. Nearby, a car crashed and burst into flames and set the reeds on fire right in the very spot Lilly sought refuge the week prior. Lilly was now thankfully directly across from this accident, but as thankful as I was that she was no longer in those reeds, I couldn’t help but think that the ruckus of this accident could potentially have pushed her from her new hiding spot.
It wasn’t until about 11:30 that night that Lilly finally made an appearance. It was like Groundhog Day all over again with her being very fearful of the threshold of the enclosure. We watched from a distance and from our live feed cameras as she would navigate around the enclosure and the cement highway barricades all the while, listening to the cars zipping by below. She was making baby steps of progression in. It was heartbreaking to listen to her cry from frustration and from being cold, but we knew those cries were because she wanted that food. She was clearly emaciated and so hungry and we knew that we had to wait her out. Finally at 4:22 AM she made her way all the way in and that door slammed shut behind her. She was finally safe!!
It took an hour and a half for us sitting with her to build her trust to let her know that she was going to be OK. We loaded her in the vari kennel and immediately brought her to the Veterinary Emergency Group in Nanuet. Aside from losing 13 pounds and having some abrasions most likely from navigating the reeds and a little bit of frostbite on her lips, she was OK. She was so grateful to be safe and so loving. It is amazing how forgiving these animals truly are if given the chance. All she wanted to do was curl up against us and be loved.
Not once through the course of those 17 days, did we hear back from the transport driver to ask if there was any progress on the case. We did find out that a week after Lilly went missing that transport was back, bringing more dogs to the same commuter lot without so much as a care knowing Lilly was still out there fending for herself, trying to survive freezing temperatures, and starvation.
Laws need to change, regulations need to be put in place with how these dogs are transported. Telling me “yeah they’re traumatized for a short time but they get over it”… it’s simply not OK it’s disgusting and despicable.
I ask that the one take away from this story, please keep sightings off of social media, instead call the number on the post or flyer directly. If you can take the time to make that post on Facebook, you can take the time to pick up your phone and make that call. Social media is a blessing and a curse for lost dogs and used in the right way it can be very helpful.
I would like to thank Kelly, who came out and helped us hang hundreds of posters, the highway department, Troop T of the state police, who were so wonderful and let us do what we needed to do to bring her to safety and at times driving over to check on us to make sure we were OK. VEG of Nanuet, who quickly saw Lilly after her capture and never charged us a dime.
Mike Sanducci from Four Legs Good who opened their doors to hold Lilly until the rescue picked her up. And last but certainly not least my one and only volunteer and soul sister, Dawn Berry who was right by my side through this heart wrenching rescue…. I love ya!!!
I shudder to think of all the other dogs being transported with the assumption that “they’re traumatized for a short time, but they get over it” If that is how you view rescue dogs… DO BETTER!
I hope from the bottom of my heart that Lilly finds a soft landing with a beautiful family of her own that understands the importance of keeping her safe and receives flight risk education.
We can all collectively do better for these rescues. Thank you to everyone who loved this girl from a far. 🩷
