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TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW/Gray News) - One pooch found injured in Kansas is now home - hundreds of miles away - after a microchip was credited to helping staff reunite him with his family. Helping Hands Humane Society says its staff met Panda on Aug. 18 and thought it was an injured stray. It was so scared it would not let staff near him that day. After a few days, shelter officials said the intake department was finally able to safely scan Panda for a microchip and found the dog’s owners had been searching for quite some time.
After a call to the family, who lived in Colorado, they found out it had been reported missing from their home about 500 miles away in 2021. They had been looking for him for more than two years. Panda is reunited with his family from Colorado on Aug. 27, 2023, after missing for more than two years.
(Helping Hands Humane Society) HHHS noted that Panda, now 7, was with the family for the first five years of his life. However, the last two years remain a mystery, as does how he got to the Sunflower State. Shelter staff said they let Panda’s family know that it would need a little TLC as the pup readjusted back at home.
They drove all weekend to get him Aug. 27. “I wish he could just bark and tell us so that we could understand,” his “mom,” Diana Luna, told KUSA. Panda’s family told shelter staff the dog’s name and that it knew Spanish commands. Once it got a whiff of their scent and heard its native tongue, he brightened up and was excited. “We love stories of reunification and are so grateful to be a #BestFriendsNetworkPartner with Best Friends Animal Society,” said an HHHS spokesperson.
“Best Friends has been supporting our reunite program by funding reclaim fees this whole year. With their help, and yours, we are working to help these animals - one nose at a time.” Once reunited with the family, shelter staff said Panda was a completely different dog and allowed them to take a look at him. Panda was recently found by workers at an animal shelter in Topeka, Kansas.
(KUSA via CNN Newsource) Copyright 2023 WIBW via Gray Media Group, Inc. CNN Newsource contributed to the report. All rights reserved.
