EPIC Animal Recovery

27/09/2025

Whew… where do I even start?!

Three weeks ago, I got a call from a former client about a stray in Kings Mountain—a stunning English Lab. She had been feeding him and thought she’d tracked down the owner… but that was still up in the air.

I set up cameras and food to try and pin this guy down. But let me tell you—he was a pro. He dodged every setup like he knew we were watching. A week later, I decided to scout the area myself. And guess what? Spoiler alert: I found him! Right back at his old hangout, snoozing on a porch like he owned the place. I quietly set up a trap at one end of the porch, parked nearby, and waited. A little Chick-fil-A magic later, and boom—he walked right in! 🐾

Now, here’s where it gets wild… The same day I was contacted about the Lab, Maddi reached out about a Frenchie running loose in Bessemer City. Conveniently, that was only 10 minutes up the road. After getting the Lab all set up, I headed over to meet Maddi and drop off equipment.

This Frenchie was no joke. She was covering 5–6 miles of farmland, woods, and pastures—sometimes seen with other dogs, sometimes vanishing for a week, then popping up 4 miles away. No rhyme, no reason. It was basically a giant game of “leave food and hope she finds it.”

Then the tables turned. Kammi messaged me saying the Frenchie was literally knocking on her door! Finally after 2 weeks of trying to track her down..But when she tried to let her in, the pup bolted across the street. I had them leave food out and promised to be there first thing in the morning.

The next morning, I headed out. While checking the area and doing a search, I spotted her. I surrounded the area with traps and cams… by 6 PM, that sweet little girl walked right in. 🎉

Turns out the English lab wasnt the dog we thought he was. He’s now safe at Cleveland County Animal Shelter and will be up for adoption once his stray hold is over. The Frenchie had no chip and is headed to rescue. Bullies 2 the rescue stepped up for this baby.

None of this would be possible without the community—calling in sightings, feeding, keeping eyes out. We can’t be everywhere all the time, so having local help is the key to saving these dogs. Thanks again Gaston County 🧡🧡

- Nicole

27/09/2025

HARRY IN FLAT ROCK IS SAFE!..

Micaiah & Anna reached out on Monday, just a few hours after their newly adopted Dog, Harry, went missing.

Harry spooked and je**ed the leash out of Anna‘s hand…
And off Harry went, leash and harness still attached.

These two wasted no time getting everything done that needed to be done.

Luckily, Harry’s previous owners were very engaged and super helpful…

On Wednesday, I took K-9 Joker out to track Harry down..

After a few hours, Joker had given us a great read on what Harry was up to.
Now it was time to reel Harry in..
And that’s just what we did….
As luck would have it, just on the other side of their apartment building was Bojangles!! No grilling out needed for us, Bojangles was on our side! :-)

Now here comes the fun part… Micaiah and Anna shared our track route with Julie, Harry’s original owner. Julie & her husband had gone to those same areas the day before our search.
Of course, my concern was that they had carried something that had Harry’s scent on it with them, which could have been why Joker was tracking the same locations…. By doing that, they would’ve been creating false positives…

But they confirmed that they did not carry anything that had Harry’s scent on it with him. Not only that though, they drove and then got out at these locations. They did not walk the entire time, like we did.

So with that being said, what we figured out was that Harry was tracking Julie and we were tracking Harry… 🤣🤣
LOVE THIS!!

And then….
Yesterday morning, someone reported that they had just seen Harry in between the apartment building and Bojangles…
This was exactly what we wanted! Thankfully, Anna was on site and got me on the phone immediately….
After just a tad bit of coaching, we knew it was imperative that Julie get there ASAP.

Shortly after Julie got there, Harry walked right out of the woods and came straight to her. GOOD BOY HARRY!!

Harry might have a future in scent work…🧡🧡

Good nose Joker!!! (& Harry🤣)

WELCOME BACK to your new home Harry! You’re very lucky to have such extraordinary new parents :-).
GREAT JOB Micaiah & Anna!!

21/09/2025

Topsy-turvy turtles…

JOKER HEARD HER SOS!!!

What a good boy!!!

18/09/2025

RED ALERT!!
HELP/FOSTER IF YOU CAN!!
Piedmont Animal Rescue - PAR can help if you can!!!🧡🧡🧡🧡🧡

15/09/2025

THEY MIGHT BE SMALL BUT THEY ARE MIGHTY!!!

We often hear people giving up on their pets due to their size. “There’s no way he is alive. He’s too small and there are coyotes and owls/hawks here…”

This post is for those of you who need to see it to believe it…

“NEVER EVER GIVE UP!”

13/09/2025

SEQUOIA IN DAVIDSON IS SAFE!!

On Monday I got the best news ever!!!…
A text from Sarah letting me know that Sequoia was home!

Sarah reached out last week for help in locating her pup, Sequoia.. A senior girl with some mobility issues..
We wasted no time and took K-9 Joker out to assist in the search..
The main concern was the river that was nearby..

Joker circled their home but didn’t hesitate taking us down their driveway & across the main road.. Towards the end of the search it was evident that she had circled and possibly overshot her house…

Due to the terrain, we suggested a drone but unfortunately, it didn’t produce anything..

If only Sequoia knew what her family & friends went through to bring her home.. They searched for hours on end.. They did a great job with their scent trails & signs..
That scent is probably what kept her close by..

On Monday she was found right across the road.. (the Purple X marks the spot) The first area that Joker took us to.. 🧡🧡
Good nose Joker!!!

Welcome home Sequoia!!
Stay put girlie!!

27/08/2025

Just saw this!!…

S.C. Neighbors..
You are included on this too…

DOG FOOD RECALL!!
PLEASE SHARE!!..

We don’t want anyone getting sick.. 🧡🧡

Dogs, cats and their owners could be at risk, an alert published on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website warned.

26/08/2025

Give those furry babies some extra love today! TEAM EPIC wishes all the furbabies and owners a wonderful day of spoiling!! 🐾🐾🐾

13/08/2025

TURTLE IN GREENVILLE, SC IS SAFE!!

LOST FOR 53 DAYS!!

That’s how long this little nugget survived on her own.
In an area completely unfamiliar to her..

I’m not going to go into detail on this post on how Turtle made it to this location.
But she was dumped here..

Turtle’s mom, Kelly, finally got details on what had happened and started her recovery efforts.
Luckily, Kyle got wind of her situation and jumped in to help. Total strangers.. It would be a long haul but Kyle hung in there! They had multiple traps out and multiple cameras…. About a week into the ordeal, they got a picture of turtle on their trail camera near a trap. But she never went in…

It would be about another 6 weeks before Turtle would be seen again.

During this time, Luci Neal also got out there and provided some assistance in the efforts…

It was quite the undertaking!!.

More time passed and still no sign of Turtle..

As we approached the last week, our great friend ANGEL, stepped in. She grabbed the tiger by the tail and shook things up a bit..
She got fresh Epic flyers printed and hung and gave away cookies and even more flyers!! The reward was posted and everyone was buzzing about Turtle!..
This push was just what was needed to relaunch the efforts..

Angel reached out to me about bringing K-9 Joker out to see if Turtle was still around.. I was a bit hesitant because of the time that had passed..
Angel wanted to try it anyway.. 🧡
So I called Luci and we made a plan to meet out there to do a search for Turtle..

On Day 48…. Kelly, Luci, myself & K-9 Joker, hit the ground running. Joker picked up scent immediately, determining that Turtle was most likely still around.…
Joker did a phenomenal job!
At a couple of points, he kept trying to pull us onto the golf course wanting to cross, but I couldn’t let him go because we were specifically told by management that we were not allowed on the course.
So unfortunately, I had to push him through that without allowing him to get on the course.
He worked through it and was still confirming that she was in the area.
The map shows our track…
The blue dot is the start and the red dot is the end. The building that you see circled in purple is where she was found…
That is the direction that Joker kept wanting to pull us towards, but we were limited due to not being allowed on the course.

But based on the information that the track provided, we changed things up a bit…

5 days after our search……

Miss Turtle was found up in the rafters of the maintenance building!! She came right down to Megan, one of the people that worked in that building.. And that was that… Her adventures came to a halt.

Wowwwww!!!
Kelly reports that Turtle is a little slim, but not very skinny…. We think she was probably getting some food at the apartments, where Joker took us during the search..

This took a lot of perseverance!Kelly & Kyle never gave up on Turtle! I’m sure they will remain friends for a long time…

Huge shout out to Luci, Angel, Kelly and Kyle!
And of course, Joker!
GOOD NOSE DUDE!!
Great effort from all!!!! 🧡🧡

10/08/2025

MASON IN MOORESVILLE IS SAFE!!

This cutie pie escaped from home and off he went..
After only a couple of possible sightings, Mason’s mom & dad needed help.
They had done a fantastic job in their efforts, but they just needed a little extra assistance..

I took K-9 Joker out on Day 9 and he wasted no time getting on Mason’s scent.. Off he went!

Based on Joker’s trail, we came up with a game plan and guess who was meowing at the door on Day 11….
That’s right!! Mason found his way home!!..
Kandas & Dave wasted NO time implementing our plan! They took it very seriously and it paid off!
WAY TO GO!!
GOOD NOSE JOKER!! (You are doing a great job dude!!) 🧡

WELCOME HOME MASON!