A Galveston family who lost their dog in 2017 while preparing for Hurricane Irma and later moved nearly 1,000 miles away is reunited with their long-lost pet.
Though Irma wasn't expected to be a direct hit, Alexis and Robert were preparing their home for a worst-case scenario. At some point during the prep, their dog Bolt slipped through a weak spot in the fence.
The couple searched the streets and area shelters for their dog, but never found their missing pet. The couple eventually made the difficult decision to leave the island altogether and give up the search for the four-legged family member.
Fast forward five years and a dog named Poppy was placed in the care of Fort Worth Animal Care and Control when his owner entered hospice. Caretakers scanned Poppy and found a microchip that identified him as Bolt and owned by someone other than the person who surrendered him.
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The staff reached out to Alexis, who now lives in Wyoming. Alexis said that Bolt was her husband's dog and that he'd recently died but that she definitely wanted to reclaim the family's pet.
The shelter teamed up with Flying Shepherd Ranch, a nonprofit in Parker, Colorado, that flies rescue dogs in Texas and surrounding states to fosters and adopters in mountain states and beyond.
A week later, Bolt was on a plane for the 850-mile trip to his new home in Cheyenne.
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Officials with the shelter said Bolt was met by Alexis, "two human siblings and even a new, furry sibling" and that the "dog-loving family was overcome with excitement and thankful that they were reunited, all because of a simple microchip."
The shelter reiterates that the reunion would never have happened without the original owner recognizing the importance of microchipping.
