A dog who wandered Colorado's Eastern Plains for over a month was reunited with his Florida owner this week. According to KDVR, Tyler Goldsmith was traveling from Oregon to Florida with his dog, Radar, in August when he fell asleep and crashed his car on Interstate 70 near Limon.
The driver said was airlifted to a hospital, and police transported Radar to the nearby town. Unfortunately, the pet managed to slip away from the officers.
“When he got to Limon, the cops were trying to transfer him over to another police officer to get him to the pound, and that’s when he escaped,” Goldsmith explained. After he was released from the hospital five days later, Goldsmith went to Limon to look for his missing dog.
His days-long search was unsuccessful, and the owner made what he called a "heartbreaking" decision to go back to Florida without Radar.
“I was devastated to leave,” he said.
A ray of hope arrived in the form of a Facebook group: “i70 Corridor Lost & Found Pets, Eastern CO.” Once the members caught wind of the situation, they spent weeks tracking down the dog. Last Tuesday (September 19), the team managed to catch Radar on a farm property 25 miles north of Limon.
“The minute I saw him on the trail cam at 1:30 (in the morning), I hopped out of bed and started getting dressed, because I knew he was going to go in the trap,” Karen Storie told reporters. “It’s pretty emotional for everybody involved."
The group hired a private company to send Radar back home to Goldsmith, who said he was very grateful for their hard work.
The team celebrated the touching reunion via a Facebook post, writing: "Weeks and countless hours by multiple VOLUNTEERS has resulted in RADAR being trapped. After 40 days of running scared on the plains he is finally safe!"