Yahoo Sports New Mexico Dog Missing for 7 Years Found 1,700 Miles Away Walking Down South Carolina Road
WYFF News 4/YouTube
A dog who went missing in Farmington, New Mexico, in 2015 surprised everyone by turning up in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, in 2023.
According to South Carolina's WYFF4, Jennifer, a Travelers Rest resident, was sitting on her porch on a recent rainy evening and spotted a limping dog on the road near her home.
"My first thought was I need to take him to the emergency vet and get him checked for a microchip," Jennifer told the station.
Jennifer followed through on her intuition and brought the canine to an animal hospital. As she suspected, the pup had a microchip — what surprised Jennifer, and the vet, was that the owner linked to the dog lived 1,700 miles away in Farmington, New Mexico.
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From the information on the microchip, Jennifer learned the limping dog's name was Nugget and that he had a family. She texted the phone number provided as the owner's contact on the microchip and reached Jessie Springer.
Springer was shocked to hear that her beloved dog, who went missing over seven years ago, turned up alive hundreds of miles away.
"When Jen texted me, I was like, wait, what?" Springer told WYFF4. "This dog never left my side, so I thought he had like walked off to die because he was already old."
Carolina Loving Hound Rescue (CLHR) worked with Jennifer and Springer to reunite Springer with Nugget, covering the owner's flight to South Caroline to pick up the pup.
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It is unclear how Nugget, who is now 16 years old, ended up so far from home, but the CLHR believes that Nugget could've been picked up by someone on a road trip who decided to take in the pet, not realizing the animal had a microchip and belonged to someone else.
Springer is grateful to everyone who made her reunion with Nugget possible and that she chose to have her pet microchipped.
