A Pelican Park dog owner has been reunited with his furry friend after more than a year. But Damian Leeuw’s joy was short-lived after the husky disappeared again after just ONE week.
The 24-year-old arrived home on Sunday afternoon to find Storm gone again.
Damian adopted the puppy and had the dog microchipped at three months old, along with his pit bull Tyson.
Storm went missing at eight months old but was found a week later, thanks to the microchip. But the second time around, Damian wasn’t so lucky.
Three months after the husky was taken the first time, robbers struck again.
A neighbour saw thieves bundle the dog into a car, but before the eyewitness could write down the registration, they had sped off.
Damian explains: “When Storm went missing, I was completely shattered. I relied on the (micro)chip, thinking I could trace him again, but I couldn’t.
He searched for three months, but as time passed, hope faded.
“I drove around searching without any luck,” he says. “I lost all hope after three months of searching for Storm.”
Then the unexpected happened, over a year after Storm went missing, a Zeekoevlei resident spotted a lonely hondjie walking in the area and phoned the SPCA.
They scanned the microchip on the dog and it turned out to be Storm.
SPCA spokesperson Belinda Abrahams says they were delighted to unite Storm with his family on 9 November and says it wouldn’t have been possible without the microchip.
“We strongly advise all pet owners to fit their animals with a microchip (which will) forever connect them with their owners. The cost is only around R250,” she says.
Damian says it was like a dark cloud had disappeared when Storm was found.
The furry family was finally back together again – Damian’s pit bull pal and the happy husky.
However, just six days after the joyous reunion, Damian arrived home around 5pm after volunteering with the National Sea Rescue Institute to discover that the dog was gone – again.
Damian suspects the husky somehow got through the gate.
If anyone has seen Storm, contact the SPCA on 021 700 4140.
Daily Voice