A dog missing since last fall has been reunited with her family, thanks to the kindness of strangers.

Molly, a basset hound, disappeared on a windy October day after the gate to the Galipeau family’s fenced-in yard blew open. She had gone missing before and was returned after wandering in the neighborhood.

This time was different. Molly wasn’t wearing her collar. She had a microchip embedded in her back, but Sean Galipeau learned later that some microchips and scanners are not compatible.

On Oct. 22, the day after Molly vanished, the family started posting fliers in Lisbon, Lewiston and Auburn. Lisbon Community School displayed a copy because Bailey, 11, and Riley Galipeau, 9, attend classes there.

Sean mentioned to his daughters that if a few years pass and Molly had found a new family, they might not be able to take her back. They began planning to adopt another dog.

“We thought for sure she was gone,” said Roni Galipeau, Sean’s wife.

It took an alert person’s glance at a newspaper’s photographs of animal shelter pets to bring about the reunion. Sean works as Lisbon’s fire chief and Mary-Ann Morgan, the town accounts payable clerk, saw the photo of a familiar-looking basset hound in Otisfield. She put the newspaper photo in Galipeau’s mailbox at the town office.

Morgan said she could relate to the Galipeaus’ dismay over losing their dog. As a child, she had a basset hound named Duchess. Duchess was lost once, and her father looked for her all night. Duchess showed up the next day.

“They’re very, very lovable and they’re good with kids,” she said of basset hounds.

Once he saw the “Lost and Found” item, Sean called the shelter and told a person there that Molly had a dew claw, which is a claw that grows above the paw, and was spayed. The dog at the shelter fit that description.

Molly had been found wandering around Otisfield before being brought to a shelter. After a couple discovered her, they brought her from home to home in their neighborhood to see if anyone had lost the dog. Molly went to the shelter after no one claimed her and spent five days there.

On May 24, seven months after Molly had disappeared, Sean drove to Otisfield with photos and paperwork to prove that the dog in the photo was, indeed, his missing Molly. The microchip in her back did not scan despite three attempts at the shelter, but the fire chief’s evidence — and the dog’s reaction to his presence — convinced shelter staff that Molly belonged with Sean.

Reunited, dog and man traveled the 30 to 40 miles from Otisfield to Lisbon, where another happy reunion took place.

Their daughters did not know their dog was home when they returned from school. Riley thought her parents got another dog and Bailey cried when she realized Molly was home.

“I ran back and forth like a blubbering fool,” Roni said. “I haven’t let her out of my sight since she left.”

The dog with the serious-looking face and happy, wagging tail weighed three pounds less than in the fall, but picked up no bad habits. She acts gentler around the cat and plays in the back yard, according to the Galipeaus. Molly even dug up toys she had hidden.

“After seven months we got to the point where she wasn’t coming home, and here she is,” Roni said.

The year-and-a-half-old dog has welcomed visitors since her return, people who are pleased she is back and eager to hear the story of the reunion. One of the girls’ teachers almost burst into tears when she found out that Molly had been found.

The Galipeaus said community response to their requests for help in finding Molly was overwhelming and heartwarming.

“Just awesome people. Just truly concerned and caring,” Roni said.

Their gratitude is mixed with curiosity about where Molly was before she went to the Otisfield animal shelter. Roni suspected someone might have been tempted to grab a purebred dog without a collar.

“She’d go up to anyone,” she said. “But it’s not right for anyone to go up and take her,” she said.

Morgan visited the Galipeaus the night of Molly’s return, saying it was if the dog had never gone.

“If only that dog could talk and tell us what happened,” she said.

Sean advised pet owners to keep the collars on their animals at all times, even in a fenced-in yard. The Galipeaus want to hear the rattling of metal license tags now because it means Molly’s with them and not going anywhere

People may think Catherine Rapinchuk is joking when she tells how she and her new dog, Toto, came to find each other.

She’s not.

The key element of that story, of course, involves a tornado.

Because of a natural disaster in the town of Holly — Toto’s tragedy — and the disappearance of Rapinchuk’s own dog, Toto and the Arvada resident found each other when they needed each other the most.

After the massive tornado devastated Holly this past March, Toto, a shitzu, was found north of town, his hair matted and a wire screen wrapped around his body. No one knows how far he flew, because Toto was not wearing tags, and no one came forward to claim him.

“He could have been picked up 40 miles from where he landed,” said Laura Gittings, the executive director of the Lamar Animal Sanctuary Team, a group that shelters lost and abandoned animals. She said a vet who worked on Toto said it was obvious the little dog was actually in the tornado, his body showing the damage of a wind-driven spin cycle.

So officials with the team cleaned Toto up and put him up for adoption.

More than 230 miles away, Rapinchuk still was reeling from the sudden disappearance of her dog, Bow, who she hasn’t seen since.

“There’s still a sizeable reward,” Rapinchuk said, hoping someone will find her dog.

Distraught, and her emotions in pieces, a friend told Rapinchuk about Toto. Soon after, Toto would become Rapinchuk’s saving grace, helping her deal with the depression she’s battled for years.

“I’ve got that body, I’ve got that warmth, I’ve got that cuddling,” she said.

Dogs have for years been thought to provide calming therapy to humans. Many doctors and psychologists believe the simple act of petting a dog can significantly relax a person.

Life has been going quite well since Toto arrived, Rapinchuk said. The dog has adjusted to living at her home and doesn’t seem to show too many ill effects of being swooped up by a raging tornado.

“The poor little guy was in sad condition,” Rapinchuk said. “I just thank God he was brought into my life.”

POLICE officers forced entry into a home in a bid to help a women heard crying only to find it was her rabbit who had called for attention.

Operators from a telephone monitoring service connected to the house told Bromley Police they could hear a woman crying and whimpering down the line in Shurlock Drive, Orpington.

It was believed the resident was in need of immediate help.

Two officers could not find a way of getting into the flat and no neighbours or relatives could assist them.

They demolished both the door and frame and a large part of the surrounding wall and hallway.

Once inside, both officers were confronted by a large brown lop-eared Dutch rabbit hopping around the front room and whimpering.

The rabbit, named Humphrey, had pulled the cord which telephones the monitoring service while his owner was out shopping at around 1pm on May 27.

“Our mission is to promote humane principles, to protect lost, homeless, abandoned and mistreated animals and to act as advocates for the animals in the community.”

That’s the mission of the Animal Friends Humane Society in Trenton.

A Hamilton woman would like to rewrite that mission statement — and after she was done, it couldn’t be printed in a family newspaper.

She wants to know why the shelter that claims to protect animals and their owners charged her $100 to adopt her own lost dog, a 2-year-old Siberian husky she had hoped to breed, then neutered the dog before he was returned.

“I’ve learned to not trust,” said Kerri Ann Flowers, 26, of Hamilton. “And that’s a sad lesson.”

On Thursday, when Flowers’ name was mentioned to Leland Gordon, executive director of the shelter, he sighed and said: “I know that lady.”

The ordeal for Flowers, her husband, 4-year-old daughter and two huskies began May 14 when they discovered their backyard gate was unlocked and opened. One of their dogs — Moki — was missing and the other — Geronimo — was limping noticeably.

“Something happened to those dogs,” she said.

The family frantically searched for Moki. They printed signs. Called the police, sheriff’s office and Animal Friends Humane Society.

For the next two weeks, Flowers said she called the humane society, and every day, the answer was the same, “No lady, we don’t have your dog.”

Finally, on June 4 — three weeks after Moki disappeared — Flowers was told a dog matching his description and photo was located in the shelter. The woman said Moki was found on May 30.

From here, you’d think the story would have a happy ending, right? Lost dog wags tails, licks owner’s face, reunites with his backyard running mate and spends the rest of his life sitting in a pickup truck.

Cue the country music.

Not so fast. According to state law, since Moki was found wearing no dog license — Flowers said it must have fallen off when the dog was stolen — he became property of the shelter after three days, Gordon said.

When told Moki had a tag that was lost, Gordon said, “We hear that all the time.”

Later, he called Flowers “an irresponsible dog owner” because the dog was running loose without his license and he wasn’t neutered.

He said cases like Flowers’ makes his “blood boil.”

Gordon said the shelter had three options, according to state law: put Moki up for adoption, euthanize him or release him to a rescue organization.

When Flowers and her daughter, Caitlin, arrived at the shelter Monday, they identified Moki and were told they could adopt him, but only after he was neutered.

“I got hysterical,” Flowers said. “I said, ‘This is my dog. This is my dog.’”

On Tuesday morning, Moki was neutered, and several hours later, he was reunited with his owners.

As part of the $100 adoption fee, Moki also received a microchip implanted in his back, updated shots and a dog license, Gordon said.

“At least we have him back,” Flowers said. “Let’s just say I’ll never go back there and they’ll never get a cent from me.”

Gordon said the blame falls on Flowers because her dog had no license, no microchip, which would have made his identification — and quicker return — much easier.

“We aren’t the bad guys here,” he said. “The public is the bad guy. We did the right thing.”

For three days, a cat was stuck in a tree in front of my apartment complex. All of the neighbors and I tried to get her down but she wouldn’t budge. We tried talking to her, tried food, even throwing things just to scare her down.

We called the Fire Department. They told us they didn’t do that anymore. When we called animal control, they said to leave her up there, she would be fine for at least 10 days.

So Monday I started talking to random people walking down the street that noticed her up there. I ended up with seven or eight of us standing under the tree searching for a ladder long enough to reach her. As we were all standing in amazement at how stubborn this cat was, we noticed an AT&T truck driving down the road. We flagged him down and told him the story. He then took the time out of his busy day to assess the situation. After a few attempts of moving his truck around he was able to reach her in the cherry picker and bring her down.

He refused to tell us his name. But whoever he is, I just wanted to say he is a hero to the many people who had been trying to save her. There are still people with a heart in this world and he has one of the biggest.

Chris Miller may not have nine lives, but the one she has is devoted to saving as many stray, deserted and homeless cats that she can.

Miller, who lives on Chestnut Street in a 2,500 square foot home with a large garden and garage, is sharing just about everything she has with 30 cats she has either found wandering her neighborhood, have come to her door begging for food or she has rescued from the county animal shelter.

“I’ve been an animal lover all my life,” Miller said. “I can’t stand to see an animal being neglected, abused or lost. It breaks my heart.”
Miller, who started taking in cats in December, said her dream is to be able to rescue as many as possible from the area and place them all in loving homes.

“That’s my dream,” Miller said as two kittens, a calico and a gray stripped older male, played with her on the couch. “But, so many people don’t seem to understand that when you get a cat, it’s a commitment and responsibility for at least the next 10 to 20 years.”

All sizes, colors and ages are the cats that peer at you from under tables, on the bed upstairs, the couch, bookshelves, beams in the garage, and on the back porch amid their own little jungle of houseplants.

Miller said she was at the animal shelter in December and thought she’d rescue “just a couple of cats to see if I could do this,” and ended up taking a couple home.

By February she was visiting the shelter four to five times a week and taking one or two cats at a time.

Miller has been able to adopt out about 25 cats and kittens and she, herself, has adopted out another 25.

As Miller gives a tour of her home, cats and kittens peek out at you from all corners, some shyly, some braver as they rub against your legs, mewing softly.

“I have several that were an elderly woman’s pets and she had to go to a nursing home,” Miller said as she stroked one of the cats. “They’ll never be able to be adopted out until the lady passes away because I would just feel too bad. But, at least they didn’t have to go to the shelter and risk having to be put down. Here they’re safe, well fed, get to play with other cats and if need be, get medicine and care.”

While Miller wishes she could open a store front shop on Main Street, she believes at this point that’s not going to happen for a while.

“Right now I need money,” Miller said. “With it costing me about $500 a month in food, litter and just basic medicine, I had no idea it was going to cost me this much. I hope people will see what a great need this county has and can find it in their hearts to donate to this shelter.”

She is hoping to have a garage sale in August to help offset some of the expenses she’s accumulated over the past several months.

Miller, who pays special insurance for having the rescue, said she is hoping to turn her two-story garage into a place for her rescued friends, especially pregnant cats.

“Those are the ones that have the roughest times,” Miller said. “I’ve had a lot of mommies come to me and they need to be kept apart from the other cats. That gets hard sometimes and the garage would be a perfect place to keep them in separate compartments.”

Miller has a few basic rules for those who want to adopt a cat from her.

“The cat has to stay inside,” Miller said. “When they leave here, they’ve been spayed or neutered, had all their vaccinations, are clean and healthy. I want them to stay that way.”

Miller also requires a home that doesn’t have children under the age of three.

“Small children just don’t know how to handle cats or kittens,” Miller said. “They can get rough and that will scare a cat causing it to scratch or bite. I don’t want to see any child hurt or the cat scared like that.”

Miller also requires renters to produce a letter from their landlord saying the cat may live in the house or apartment with it’s new owner.

“That’s another big problem,” Miller said. “Most people don’t like to rent to someone who has a pet, so I want to be sure that we’re not continuing a cycle by adopting this kitty out and then having it going to the shelter three or four months down the road because the landlord discovered it and threatened to kick the renter out.”

Basically Miller just wants pet owners to “be responsible.”

“And, I have quite a few cats to adopt,” Miller smiles. “I’m always looking for the purrfect home.”