A Magnolia family has been reunited with their golden retriever mix after their dog was mistakenly picked up, sent to a local animal shelter and shipped off to be adopted at Washington, D.C.-area shelter.
Cassandra Gaudin of Richard Road said her dog, Optimus Prime, heard a clap of thunder and ran off in June.
“He is scared of thunderstorms and that’s why he ran off,” Gaudin said.
She said she checked at the McComb and PALS animal shelters but neither had her dog.
“I was about to give up when someone told me about the Magnolia Animal Shelter,” she said, referring to a volunteer facility outside of town.
Gaudin lives less than three miles from the shelter and didn’t know it even existed.
“I showed a picture of Optimus to the woman and she said, ‘We had your dog, but you’re not going to like what I’m about to say,’ ” Gaudin said.
She said Judy Martin, one of the shelter’s owners, told her that Optimus had been sent off on a transport with other strays.
It’s common for area animal shelters that are overwhelmed with strays to send dogs to other states where there are fewer shelter dogs, but a glut of people wanting to adopt pets.
“She apologized and said she was very sorry,” Gaudin said.
Gaudin began a Facebook campaign to get her dog back.
“I launched an aggressive campaign to see if I can track him down,” she said. “I found him at Last Chance Animal Rescue in Maryland.”
After contacting the Waldorf, Md., shelter, she explained to the director that they had her dog, but the shelter didn’t want to give him back at first.
“They basically said they obtained him legally and, ‘He’s our dog now,’ ” she said.
Gaudin said she was told that Optimus was set to be at an adoption event the next day.
“I wasn’t getting my dog back unless I threw a tantrum like a child, which is basically what I did,” she said.
Gaudin said she’d almost given up hope.
“I had just began to accept the fact that he wasn’t coming home,” she said.
She said after running into roadblocks trying to get Optimus home, she’d decided that she was taking a trip to Maryland.
“I would’ve had to show up in person, prove I was the owner, pay the adoption fee, fill out the application and get approved for the adoption, just to get him back,” she said. “I said, ‘Well, guess I’m going to Maryland.’ ”
Gaudin needed $500 — $375 to cover the adoption fee and for gas, and she opened a GoFundMe account to raise the money, the bulk of which came from her sister.
She said that in the end, the shelter agreed to waive the adoption fee and transport Optimus back to Mississippi.
Gaudin decided to donate the funds she collected and give them to the McComb Animal Shelter, where she now volunteers.
She said she’s not upset with either the Magnolia Animal Shelter or the McComb Animal Shelter, which arranged the transport.
“They were apologetic and very helpful,” she said.
She said Optimus Prime was in rough shape by the time he got to the Magnolia Animal Shelter.
“He looked like he had not been taken care of properly,” she said. “He had heat spots on him. He had boo-boos behind his ears that weren’t healing up. ... I’d been giving him flea baths and I did it every so often and I took his collar off.”
She also believe that the fact that he wasn’t neutered contributed to his running off.
“If I had him neutered, he would have roamed, but he wouldn’t have roamed as far,” she said. “I didn’t have him neutered because my husband felt he would lose his personality. But, that’s the old way of thinking.”
Gaudin said she’s now an advocate for spaying and neutering pets, adding that it would cut down on all of the stray animals taken in by local shelters.
“Now he’s neutered, and now he’s microchipped,” she said. “If I’ve learned any lesson it’s to take better care of my pets.”
