Got 'im!!!!!!!

Wow! That was fun!!!

Sure, easy for me to say from Myrtle Beach where I am this week. It was tense for the volunteers, and it took a lot of man hours, a lot of tasks, a lot of patience. But we got the dog! It went down something like this:

A custom trap - that looks more like a small dumpster than a trap - was rebuilt at the site by Sam for the second night in a row. It required monitoring because while it traps a pet, with a little time, the pet can collect himself and figure out how to get out of it.

Now, earlier in the evening when he was hovering around this enclosure trap, Leo had bumped up against it and the door shut. So, Sam decided to rigged so that, rather than Leo tripping the plate inside it when he was eating his feast, she would pull the door shut at the right instant after he entered it. The problem was that she couldn't really see him from her best possible angle. So the plan became that volunteers would be in phone contact her while watching Leo from the second floor balcony. True to the plan, when he was all the way inside the trap, volunteers gave her instructions to pull. She did, and it went off without a hitch!

As we've seen before, he was actually, apparently, relieved when he could no longer run! Not surprisingly, he's a sweetie who licked everyone around - including the male volunteer (we'd gotten word that he might have some problem with males).

Leo was spirited right to a 24 hour vet, where he is now. His rescue organization is making plans to pick him up.

Watch this site later on Thursday for word about (1) a celebration we'd like to have, probably at a Village at Shirlington establishment, probably Sunday eveningj and (2) fundraising to cover the cost of payment to Sam with Pure Gold Pet Trackers. Tune back in for that.

Thanks to everyone for your support and your volunteer efforts, your well wishes, and for being a part of the Leo recovery effort!

Nancy Despeaux