Huchi was rescued in late 2016 from a South Korean Dog Meat Farm. He came to the United States and spent two months in a foster home before he was adopted by his owners. Unfortunately Huchi saw a chance to escape on March 1, 2017 and he was out the door. Sightings came in almost immediately so his owners got flyers up in the area. He was hanging out about two miles east of where his home was. Cameras and a trap were put out but before we could confirm his where about there was a call that came in that said “he was running full steam down Waxwing towards Modaff”. We knew he was somehow being chased. Not 10 minutes later a call came in that he was seen on the north east corner of a very busy intersection. Somehow he made it across 6 lanes of traffic. He was now in a completely different area. His owners quickly put up flyers near the latest sighting but there were no more calls Friday or Saturday.
(Number 1 is was his first “safe” area ~ Number 2 was his second)
Calls started coming in Sunday the March 4 and we were able to determine his location thanks to people that saw the flyers. For three continuous days there were sightings and his poor owners had to watch him from afar. He wanted nothing to do with humans. The residents of #KimballHill subdivision all knew about him and were willing to help in any way possible. The owners of Max Madsen Mitsubishi – Downers Grove allowed us use of their private property to set up our trap. Huchi was running the back yards along the DuPage River so we had several cameras out in those yards as well. All the residents were incredibly helpful, calling in sightings, letting us crawl thru their brush to dribble bacon grease, keeping their own pets on leash so they wouldn’t eat our trail of canned chicken and burgers.
On Sunday the 3rd he got his exercise walking the trail with everyone else that was out so there were several calls all day long.
One lady took a picture of him two mornings in a row in the same spot!
Monday the 4th he chose a back yard to lie in and relax during the day.
Tuesday he chose a second yard, right next to the Madsen’s where the trap was!
H is Huchi and T is Trap
Traps were set and baited early on Tuesday, and then around noon the main trap was rebaited with smelly KFC slathered in BBQ sauce and liquid smoke was trailed all over the yard and towards where he was laying. His owner was watching him from across the river and saw that he had gotten up and walked north while the baiting was happening.
But about two and a half hours later he appeared and was 50 ft away from the trap!! There was a strong wind Tuesday bringing the smell right to him. His owner was giving us play by play…50 ft, then 20 ft, sniffing but very cautions, constantly looking around. Acting just like we would expect him to…then by the door, then eating the food around the trap, then 10 ft away, then the words we always love to hear ‘WE GOT HIM!!’ Huchi was safe in the trap.
He was calm when his owner got to the trap and after a pretty good climb up a steep slope with the trap he and his friend were off to the vet. Huchi was dehydrated, very tired, no weight loss though! Because his owners were persistent and diligent with the flyers, they got sightings, because they got sightings we were able to map them and figure out where he was hanging out, because we did that we knew where to put cameras and eventually the trap. No one chased him, no one called out to him, no one “searched” for him, we let him do what he needed to feel safe and played the game on his terms. Whatever it takes to get him home safe. Welcome home Huchi!!
Thank you, Elaine for sharing Huchi’s story!