What we know: Blaze rescued from Indian River island; officials try to reach owner
Who let the dog out?
After nearly five days of sightings around Indian River County this on-the-loose German shepherd, named Blaze, eluded capture from police, concerned residents and others. He was found Feb. 28 after he swam the lagoon and hid on an island. He's been dubbed the "sweetest dog ever" by Vero Beach police upon capture.
What we know about the capture: Blaze was rescued on Feb. 28 on an Indian River Lagoon spoil island. Traps were set on the island on Feb. 27 after Vero Beach animal control officers searched the island on Saturday for about four hours. The dog had been seen swimming to the island.
Food and water was laid out around the trap for the dog.
Next steps: After the dog was captured, it was taken to a veterinarian for examination. During the general examination, the doctor found the dog was microchipped−a rice-sized microchip that can be used as a GPS tracker and to store the owner's information.
Through the microchip, they contacted the owners multiple times and nobody responded to the calls. A missing report had not been filed.
Blaze is being kept at the Humane Society shelter where he is being cared for as they track down his owners. He was adopted about a week ago, the same week he was found on the island. He had been in the shelter for a few weeks after his previous family surrendered him.
The plan is to get him back to his owner or adopt him out to one of many people looking to adopt him, human society officials said.
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Why did the police get involved? It is not common practice for the police to get involved in lost dog searches. The Vero Beach police getting involved in this search was a first for them.
The department’s animal control division shift had ended for the day when they began receiving calls between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Feb. 24 about the dog being loose on Memorial Island, police officials said. They saw the dog on the shore of the spoil island and couldn't just leave him there.
Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s underserved communities reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com, 772-409-1429 or follow her on Twitter @gmontesano13. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: What We Know: Recovered Indian River dog could be fostered if not claimed
