Tiny elderly dog that vanished after 2018 home explosions returns safely to her owner
Virgo, who is 14-years-old, survived on his own for more than a year before returning home.
A dog that went missing amid the chaos of a series of natural gas explosions last year been has returned to its owner.
Virgo, a 14-year-old Pekingese-Shih Tzu, disappeared in September 2018 after excessive pressure in natural gas lines caused explosions and fires in approximately 40 homes in the Merrimack Valley in Massachusetts.
The incident forced Virgo’s owner, Altagracia Baldera, to evacuate her apartment in North Andover. She went to stay at her sister’s house in the city of Lawrence.
Baldera said that Virgo ran out of the house and disappeared the next day after her brother-in-law opened the front door of the apartment to get coffee.
Virgo had been missing for over a year before he was spotted by a group of boy’s who alerted authorities.
Animal Control Officer Brian Miranda picked Virgo up and brought him to a shelter with hopes of finding his owner, according to the Eagle Tribune.
Virgo had a microchip implanted that listed Baldera as his owner. The contact number listed for Baldera was outdated, but Animal Control worker Ellen Bistany was able to find her current phone number after she cross-referenced her name with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA).
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This week, Baldera was finally reunited with her long lost dog, who was ecstatic to be back with his owner.
Bistany said: ‘I think it’s amazing. It’s such a happy story…I think he definitely recognized her.’
Virgo was taken back home and joined his K9 siblings, Nala and Bonita.
Baldera said: ‘I love dogs. Oh my God, it’s just like losing a member of the family. And when you find them, it’s indescribable.’
Bistany and Baldera both suspect someone helped Virgo survive over the past year – especially through the harsh New England winter.
‘He wasn’t in the street for a year or he would not have survived,’ Baldera said.