09/30/2023
Reedās Rescue 9/18/23-9/28/23:
In April of this year, little Reed was left all alone after his owner passed away. Luckily for Reed, he had a whole slew of neighbors who cared and worried for him. They provide fresh food and fresh water daily, as well as toys. Despite all of the love he was surrounded by, little Reed kept a wary distance and would not allow anyone to capture him.
Daily, Reed would make his rounds through his neighborhood, but he would always return to his boarded up, run down home, and sit by the front gate, as if he was waiting for his owner to return.
On September 18th, our rescue team received a plea for help to work on safely securing Reed. As the weather began to change, his doting caregiverās worry mounted. She knew he needed help. In addition to her concerns, the home was being sold and was said to be under contract, so poor Reed had the potential of losing his safe space.
On September 19th, our team went out to access the area and develop a plan. In doing this, we quickly discovered this was going to be a very daunting rescue. Reed was living amongst many feline friends in a cat colony. He himself, not much bigger than a kitty, undoubtedly felt comfort and safety being with them. Trapping a dog can be extremely difficult with other animals around, as everyone wants a taste of the goodies we bring!
Days went by and trapping with a traditional box trap remained unsuccessful, despite moving the trap to various spots on the property and placing ādecoyā food for the cats. We needed a new plan.
We thought about a drop trap (šŖ¤), but we felt he was too nervous and wary for that to work, as the animal needs to be calmly eating their meal for it to be a success. Even though the drop trap idea was a bust, it inspired another idea! Could we turn the house into a trap? We knew if we opened the door Reed would go in, it was the only home he knew after all. To do this, we of course needed permission from the realtor, so with fingers and toes crossed, we reached out in great hope, that a someone who didnāt know us would trust us enough to give us access to the house. It turns out Rich Mayo, the realtor selling the property, is a big animal lover! He had seen little Reed in the times he had been to the house, but thought he had lived next door. Rich granted us permission to enter the home, but informed us that we were on quite a time crunch! The house was being closed on as of Friday, September 29th, just one day away!
Quickly, we developed a thorough plan and a detailed supply list, making sure we were ready with anything we might need. The house would be our trap, a rope would be connected to the door and yanked once Reed was safely inside. Our team arrived on scene in the afternoon of Thursday the 28th to set the home up for capture. Our trail cameras was set and ready; delicious, smelly, canned chicken was in place as bait; and a stretch-free rope was tied to the front door, stretched across the front yard, over the fence and into the car. It was time to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait some more.
Reed visited many times to check out the open door, but was still pretty intent on going about this various afternoon activities. He played with the cats, went and visited neighbors yards, and as the sun set and the moon rose, we began to worry our plan might not come to fruition.
Around 7:20 pm, Reed fully entered the house. A night vision scope confirmed the time was right; Reed was inside and sniffing around, he was distracted. The rope was yanked, and the door swung shut with ease. Reed was finally safe! Now it was time to grab our supplies to secure him within the home. We grabbed our crate, towels, our handy snappy snare, and a net just in case.
Reed allowed us to gently slip our snappy snare over his head, pick him up, and place him in his crate. Though he was scared, he seemed to understand we were there to help him.
A huge thank you goes out to Reedās caring and loving neighbors for keeping his belly full and for advocating for his rescue. In addition, this rescue would not have been possible without Rich, whom gave us his trust, so we could once and for all help this little guy get off of the streets.
