HIGH POINT, N.C. — An injured dog was rescued after being found on a High Point street this week, but local animal advocates who helped the dog discovered he had an owner who claimed the animal was taken in his stolen car.
"(The story) had so many twists and turns, it was like a roller coaster ride in an amusement park," said Eve Roser, the founder and managing director of Paws and Claws Affordable Veterinary Clinic in Archdale.
Roser said she was tagged in a Facebook post about an injured, potentially abused dog, found in High Point.
"It actually looked as if someone held this poor dog's face down on a heated metal surface like a stove burner," said Roser.
Roser said she stepped in to help but then discovered the dog was microchipped.
"The microchip company contacted the owner and that’s when the story started taking this just unusual turn," Roser said.
According to Roser, the owner claims their car was stolen from a Greensboro gas station. A Greensboro Police incident report shows a car theft in September matching the owner's story. The dog, originally named Kobi, was found this week in High Point.
"(The original owner) was just grateful that his dog was okay and he couldn’t wait to get back," said Roser.
A neighborhood of people in High Point had taken Kobi in, Roser said, and had fallen in love with him. Roser offered to pay the original owner an adoption fee for Kobi which he first declined but later changed his mind.
"We reunited Kobi’s owner on Thursday evening and then Friday morning he contacted me and the family and said, after a lot of thought, that he felt like this family could provide for Kobi and give him more than he could, at this time in his life," Roser said. "So there were about five different families in the neighborhood that really cared about this dog. He did have a wonderful owner but this was not the right time, I think in his life, for this kind of responsibility."
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Kobi is now named Tucker and lives with Laura and Adam Pallaci. Adam's brother found Tucker.
"I texted (Laura) and said I need to get off Facebook and stop looking at videos or we’re getting a dog and we went over there last night to meet him and it was just immediate. I looked at her and said we’re taking him, he’s ours," said Adam.
"We lost our 14-year-old (dog) back in August, who is about his size, and we’ve just been waiting for the right dog to come along and that’s why I think it was so instant for us," Laura said.
Roser said she's glad there was a happy ending to this story, but she still wants to find out what exactly happened to Tucker.
"Who did this to him? Because you don’t want this to happen to any animal," Roser said.
Roser is also vice-president of Susie's Hope, a non-profit animal advocacy group. Susie's Law was signed by former Governor Bev Perdue in 2010. It increases the penalty for animal abusers, making it a felony. The law is named after a dog named Susie.. who was burned.. beaten and left for dead as an 8-week-old puppy. She had her ears burned off, but survived.
"You always have to be a voice for the voiceless," said Roser. You have to report it (animal abuse) If you’re able to call animal control, if you’re able to get an animal injured animal into your car, take it to your local veterinarian or a local animal shelter so first it can get veterinary care if it’s neglected or abused and then they can start the investigation process of who owns the pet and what happened."