‘Ninja’ dog with box on its head evaded Alabama rescuers for months — until now
A dog with a box stuck on its head roamed southern Alabama for months until rescuers were finally able to help.
Animal specialists “broke out all the stops” trying to free the dog from the situation, Mobile Animal Services director Robert Bryant said in an interview with WKRG.
The box on the dog’s head made it too big for the canine to fit in conventional traps, officials said. The box appeared to have narrow openings on the side and top, which allowed the dog to eat despite its predicament.
Bryant said the team tried to tranquilize the dog, they tried to use a net gun, and finally on Feb. 21, they assembled a bunch of barricades from Mardi Gras to corral the dog long enough so they could at least get the box off.
The person responsible for finally freeing the dog was Martin Miller. He celebrated the effort in a post on social media.
“I’m so proud to be part of such an amazing group of people! And to all the members of the community that worked so hard to try and help this!! A huge, congratulations to everyone involved,” he wrote.
In the interview with WKRG, Miller said the dog ran past him as all the rescuers formed a line.
“I held on to it for dear life and held a tree with my other hand,” Miller wrote on Facebook describing the incident. He added the dog did all the work — pulling away until the box eventually came off.
The dog managed to escape after that, but without the box on its head, rescuers might have an easier time catching it eventually.
“The best word for that dog is he’s a ninja,” Bryant told WKRG.
Some social media users questioned why it took so long for rescuers to trap the dog.
“It’s very difficult to try and catch a dog with such a large box on its head,” Miller wrote in response to a Facebook comment. “Conventional traps don’t work, sedation is very dangerous for a stray dog, and he was deep in the woods. There have been multiple attempts, but today we got lucky.”
Although they couldn’t get a leash on the dog, Miller described getting the box off as a “huge step forward.”
He said the next step is getting the dog to a shelter.
Mobile County is in southwest Alabama, bordering Mississippi.
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