Date Missing: 2/9/20 Date Reunited: 3/17/20 Days Missing: 38
Bo’s family was sending him from North Dakota to Alabama for bird training and on 2/9/20 the transport company stopped at a rest stop on Hwy 43 in Denmark, WI in the middle of a snowstorm and Bo got loose. The transport company tried to get Bo safely, however was not able to and they ultimately had to make a decision to keep moving forward with their trip south.
Get Toby Home learned of Bo missing on 2/24/20 after seeing him posted on another Facebook site. We immediately reached out to the family and offered our assistance in trying to get him back home safe. We immediately started making signs and flyers to be distributed in the area. We used Google Maps and plotted out zones to be flyered and where to place road signs. We reached out to our Get Toby Home followers to get assistance with flyering each of the zones as it was critical to get the word out immediately. Over the next couple weeks over 8,000 flyers and nearly 50 signs were placed.
Once signs, flyers and Facebook post were done, calls started coming in. We plotted the map patterns started to emerge. One day on my gut instinct, I stopped at a farm that butted up to where he went missing and it would turn out to be the best decision made in helping to get Bo home!
Talking to the wonderful farmer Pat, he had seen what he thought was a coyote recently. He said he would keep an eye out for him and call us with any further information. Later that night he called and said his wife saw a dog running in their back yard, but stated it could have been a coyote as it was too far. We put out a camera but nothing but cats showed up. Then we got a sighting on his son’s farm from a couple that was passing through. Based on their description of the dog and collar, we were confident it was Bo.
We set a bait pile, trap and camera, however again nothing showed on the camera. Then at the new home Pat lives at down the road he called to let us know he was missing some chickens. We immediately set cameras at the chicken coops and BOOM! We got him on camera for the first time on 3/15, but at the time the picture was not the best to even confirm it was a dog. On 3/16 we set more cameras up at that location and there he was on our cameras!!!! We were so happy, but still a bit hesitant that it may not be him because we could not see the collars or his black spot on his backend. We immediately set traps and cameras in that location on 3/16. That night we got a message from the owner of Pats old home down the road and across from the farm and she had Bo on her Ring camera. On 3/17 we set 2 additional traps and cameras at that location and at 9:09 pm he showed up and 9:11 pm he went in the trap! We had 5 (6 foot) traps and 10 cellular trail cameras out for Bo along with the 50 signs and 8,000 flyers we handed out.
This capture was possible because of the tremendous support of this community and volunteers that helped to get him home. Farmer Pat and his family were superior to work with and we could not have asked for anyone better to work with. Without all of this support, it is very likely that Bo would still not be home today.
