Published in Print Edition Sentinel of Gloucester County Week of 12/12/2019
Dear Editor,
I have a story to tell about hope, random acts of kindness, true citizenship and miracles. This story details how the community of Franklin Township, NJ came together to save our family dog, Gracie Lou. Gracie is a timid, three-year old Hungarian Vizsla. She is a huge part of our family and my second child. Our life as a family is complete with Gracie Lou. We live in Manahawkin, NJ, near Long Beach Island, which is about 90 miles north of Franklinville. Gracie and I came down to join my brother and his family for Thanksgiving dinner on November 28, 2019. My brother David and his wife Tara live on Main Road in Franklinville. After dinner we took the dogs for a walk on the trail in the woods behind my brother’s house. When we returned from our walk in the woods, someone was lighting off fireworks and the loud boom frightened Gracie. At first, we thought she hid under the deck and then we thought she was let into the house. When I went into the house to check for her, she was not there. It seems that she was able to crawl under the gate and escape from my brother’s fenced in property. My family helped me search for Gracie late into the night. Gracie was not familiar with this area; so returning back to my brother’s would be a challenge without familiar scents. When Gracie did not return that night, we went back out searching at dawn the next morning. I was overwhelmed and becoming anxious because the area around Main Road is rural and vast. There are many farms and fields and stretches of woods that are thick with thorns. Later that morning, my brother and I, both, posted the details publically, that she was missing, to social media. We posted to all the area lost dog/pet groups on Facebook. We posted to the Franklinville community Facebook groups. We contacted the police, Animal Control, shelters and veterinarians. Gracie is a recue dog from New Hope Vizsla Rescue and through social media networking, NHVR got involved, and the network grew to all of the Vizsla groups on Facebook. In no time at all, the information spread like wildfire, people began sharing the posts and the network grew.
After 24 hours and temperatures dropping, she was still missing. Through social media I asked for volunteers that could help us search for Gracie. The comments flooded in from people willing to help and from people offering suggestions and advice. People like Shelbi Engelman, Kim Taylor, Deb Schlater, Michelle Gervasi-Jenkins and Sarah Cowell drove as far as 2.5 hours to help us search. Friends like Susan Blithe-Shrader and Nicole Cesare, that I hadn’t seen in years came to help. Complete strangers came out to help us search. We were directed to professionals that help with search and rescue. I was able to get phone consultation from Buddha Dog Search and Rescue, K-9 Search and Rescue and Team Louie. I utilized FindToTo.com, which is a lost pet “Amber Alert”, pawboost.com and HomeAgain.com, which are websites that are databases for missing pets. Through advisement, I was told that search parties could frighten her and push her further away from us. It was time to get out and talk to the people of the community, pass out flyers to businesses and plaster MISSING signs within a 5-10 mile radius of where she went missing. I had a remote team of dedicated women, who are volunteers for NHVR, with Karin, Adele, Sarah and Wendy heading up things and all working on keeping me informed and weeding through the social media. We kept the social media sites updated and then as we became more educated about finding a lost dog we also educated the network that continued to grow. Our travels through the community of Franklinville to get the word out lead us to many people who were more than willing to help. My brother’s neighbors, Sissy and Steve Wicke, born and raised in the community, were so pivotal in helping us with the lay of the land and putting us in contact with local people. Through a social media post, we received our first sighting report. Gracie was sighted around 8 pm on Thanksgiving, running near the road by RLS Industries on Main Road, and when the gentleman who contacted us tried to get her to come to him, she took off into the woods. The next day we got a call by a kind lady named Gail who reported that a man came to her front door and said that he may have “nipped” a dog that was running in the road around 7:52 pm on Main Road near the intersection of Dutch Mill Road. He explained that the dog took off, but asked Gail to keep her eyes open for the dog. Another post came through on social media, that around 8 pm on Thanksgiving, a woman swerved to avoid a dog resembling Gracie running in the road near Lake and Main. Almost 48 hours had gone by at this point and I was trying to remain calm. The obstacle of finding her was only exacerbated by the fact that, the temperature was dropping, she may be injured and hunting season was starting.
By Sunday, December 1st, we had three sightings. We investigated the areas of the sightings and the kind farmers that owned the properties where Gracie was sighted, allowed us to come onto their property to look for clues of Gracie. We tried one of the suggestions and put her crate and bedding, food, toys and clothing that smelled like my son and I in the woods where she may have ran off. We alerted the management at RLS Industries and they were kind enough to put flyers up in the break room and let all their employees and truck drivers know. We handed out flyers to the mailman, the post office, and the UPS driver. We even flagged down workers driving tractors down the road. We went to the gun clubs to make the hunters aware and to ask them to spread the news through their community. We went to Garoppo’s Garden Center on Rt. 40, the women there were so helpful and told us they would show the flyer to every customer. They even called us to check in and see if we had any luck. We had three sightings within a 1.5-mile stretch from where she went missing. I was also advised to set up “feeding stations” in a sighting area in hope to entice her with food. I purchased two trail cameras and I set up a feeding station at my brother’s. Susie and Jon Stippick on Main Road allowed us to set up a station on their property, which was near the last sighting at Lake and Main Road. We started to routinely check the cams and keep the “food pile” stocked in hopes of enticing Gracie. Unfortunately, finding a 39-pound dog, which blends in with the fall leaves, was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Setting up a “food station” without any consistent sighting was like guessing. I was determined to find Gracie Lou and bring her home.
In the meantime, the prayers and support coming through social media and from everyone in the community that we encountered was a tremendous support. I truly felt that I had a “village” of supporters rallying behind me as I tried to locate my little pup. This journey was a humbling experience and a testimony to the power of hope and community. At this point, I could only predict where Gracie might be and what she is dealing with. On Day 4, Monday, December 2nd, I was weary and the nights were the longest nights of my life wondering if she was okay. The weather had been cold and rainy. I was worried like a parent worries for their child. I was worried that she was cold and hungry and hurt. I was worried that the hunters were out there. I was worried about the roads and the tractor-trailers. At this point, we have a true Team Gracie going on. Through the resourcefulness of so many people we were able to continue to move in the direction of finding Gracie Lou. On Monday afternoon, Debra Evalds, from NHVR hit the jackpot and found Mad Props Drones, in Franklinville. Don from Mad Props came out right away and we started. He used a geothermal imaging drone to see if he could locate what could potentially be Gracie. He based his searching on the last three sightings. My hope was renewed!
By Tuesday, December 3rd, Day 5, the weather had improved. It dried out and the sun was out. Today was a huge day for getting flyers posted. We had people come from all over to help us. Kristy Polutro from White Tail Pass and her family were resourceful and out constantly looking for Gracie and helping us with flyers. Stacey Giusti from Marshall Mill Road helped us with many in roads and helped get the word out at the schools. Megan Salmons DeTetta from Vineland helped post flyers leading back toward the Vineland area. I was posting flyers on Dutch Mill heading toward Tuckahoe, when I ran into Lenore Walker. Lenore is a bus driver for Franklin Township School District. She said she would get the word out with the drivers and put the flyer in the break room. I got a call from HomeAgain that a dog resembling Gracie was brought to Homeward Bound Pets in Blackwood, but sadly it was not she. We were told that a dog in survival mode would most likely return to being nocturnal and hunker down by day and travel/feed at night. Don from Mad Props Drones agreed to try some flights with the drone at dusk as long as the weather cooperated. I was prepared to have volunteers distribute another 200 flyers on Tuesday and continue to stretch the word. In conjunction, Tuesday was a huge day for reports. The social media and flyers were working and the community was looking and listening for Gracie. New reports were coming in from different sightings.
The new group of sightings put Gracie further up Main Road and one outlier that put a possible sighting off Grant Avenue near Williamstown Road. A social media post informed us that Gracie was sighted at the Main Road School on Friday, November 29th. A family heard a solo dog howling across the cornfield off Lake toward Tuckahoe late Saturday night around 11 pm. Andy Bellone called and reported that he heard a solo dog howling on his property around 5pm on Tuesday, while he was out hunting. He was gracious and took his time to drive us out to the woods where she might have been. At about the same time that Andy called, I also got a call that Gracie may have been sighted crossing Rt. 40 near the transmission place diagonal to the Purple Penguin. On Wednesday December 4th, I got a call from Tina whose parents own the farm at the corner of Main and Lake. She reported that her mom and dad heard a solo dog howling in the evening between 7:30-8 pm and that the neighbor heard the howling around 9 pm. The property owners at the corner of Main and Lake told us we could set up a feeding station on their farm. Pip, the farmer, who owned the property next door, invited us into his home to warm up and allowed us to explore his property for any signs of Gracie. Don from Mad Props Drones came out to explore the area as well. Don was only able to identify some deer and small animals. I was beginning to resort to setting up camp out there in hopes that Gracie would pick up my scent and wander back to me.
On Thursday morning, December 5th, I had volunteers lined up to come, to help me distribute the new batch of flyers over by the sighting off Grant Avenue. Even though it was an outlier, we were leaving no stone unturned. I came out of the bathroom after getting dressed and brushing my teeth when I had a voicemail from Sharon Clair at the Franklin Township School District bus dispatch. She told me there was a sighting in Newfield, which is about 4 miles away. I called Gloucester County Animal Control and spoke with the supervisor, Mark Tursher, who sent out a patrol. Sharon indicated, at first that she was sighted at Catawba and Madison. Then she called again and told me Lake and the Blvd. Finally, Sharon stayed on the phone with me, because I had no clue where I was going and led me to the exact location where Sheila Dizenzo, a bus driver was waiting. Gracie was sighted by a fourth grade student named Kendyl Sloat, while she was on her way to school in the bus. Kendyl spoke up and reported this to her bus driver Liz Gonzalez. Liz called Sharon at the dispatch. Sharon contacted me and when she got my voicemail the first time, she called my brother who was the secondary contact. She finally reached me after she had dispatched Sheila Dizenzo to look for Gracie. Sheila went to the store and bought treats. When she got to Harris Avenue, she talked to the neighbor, who thought Gracie might have been around for about two days. Sheila saw Gracie near the woods, she called for her and Gracie acknowledged. Sheila waited at the top of the street for me to arrive and drove be down the street to the wooed area where Gracie was hiding. Animal Control followed in case I needed back up. I parked my car and got out. I approached the wooded area and sat down on the ground and quietly called for Gracie. She peeked her head out of the woods and walked over cautiously. Finally she jumped into my lap and I declared, “This is a miracle!” I put Gracie in the car, wrapped her up in a sleeping bag and dumped out the entire bag of treats, which she inhaled. I walked over crying tears of joy and hugged Sheila.
I’ve been on an adrenaline rush for the past week, so I got in the car and just drove. I came to my senses and then called Franklinville Veterinary Clinic. I was asked if I could hold, and I said, “It’s and Emergency, I found Gracie!” The receptionist calmed me down and told me she could take us at 10 am, which was exactly how long it would take me to get there. Doctor Laura Snyder and the veterinary techs were so calm and caring. Gracie is one lucky girl. The doc examined her and treated her with fluids. She had many superficial injuries, but nothing broken or internal. Gracie was malnourished, dehydrated and pretty beat up. Her spirit is intact and she will heal.
Despite this being an ordeal and quite frankly, a living nightmare, it has been a miraculous journey. Saving Grace is a testimony to the power of community and the power of hope. Everyone from the 95-year-old lady we met making beef stew, to little Jack who gave us a “Gracie feather” and prayed for Gracie, rallied together to support our cause of bringing Gracie Lou home! My gratitude is spilling out of me and my emotions are of love. This is truly a Christmas Miracle! Additionally, I hope that the information provided would help others who have lost a beloved pet be reunited.
Sincerely,
Sandra Royds, Manahawkin, NJ
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