Waggin' Tails Animal Shelter/Cicero Animal Control wasn't able to get a hold of the owner of Gringo, this adorable little guy that was found. Fans were commenting to send the case to us at #MicrochipHunters! I received a text from one of their employees, Samantha, and I gave her the microchiphelp.com link to get Gringo registered for us to research. 
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This was a difficult one, as the phone number was disconnected, AND the address was incomplete. I was able to find someone that was "associated" to the registered owner, and gave him a call. I asked for his address, which Rosanne from Microchip Hunters also confirmed for me, and this led me to the brother-in-law's phone number. The owner, Karylees, is out of state until the end of January, and had a friend's mother watching Gringo, and was not aware he had gone missing. She called me back, but it had taken a few days for her to get the message and get a hold of the woman caring for Gringo to find out what had happened. 

Thankfully, Karylees was able to send her ID and her partner's ID, along with vaccination records, over to us and to Waggin Tails to allow her partner to pick him up. Her sister will now be caring for Gringo while she is away. "Gringo doesn't like anyone he doesn't know well, so it is hard." Karyless will also be updating the microchip information, just in case, and as she said, "I need my Gringo."

Thank you for letting us help, Waggin' Tails. We know how special dogs are to their families, and it is heartwarming to be able to get them back home. He is loved. 

***Photo is a prior photo of Gringo with Karylees***
~Jeanette
Lost Dogs Illinois
Microchip Hunters

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Team efforts are the best! Help us help those who need it!
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Thankfully, Chicago Animal Care and Control reached out to us at #MicrochipHuntersIL for help finding the owner of this cute little guy because both phone numbers on the microchip were disconnected.

Susan T. started with an email to one of the two registered owners. She got a response, but no answers from the "owner" as to what to do with "Tailspin." Ugh!

After researching, I then contacted a phone number which turned out to be the sister of the registered owner. The sister told me he was given to someone and his new name is Peso. She was kind enough to contact the new owner, Danielle, for me and have her call me. Danielle called me right away, and told me she was looking for Peso like crazy. She said she would get over to CACC right away after work.

I had to give Danielle the sad news that she couldn't pick Peso up until the stray hold was over unless she had a signed letter from the registered owner, or an email from them directly to CACC, neither of which she was able to get. So...Peso had to wait until the stray hold was up to go home. It was five very long days for her leaving him there.

Today was the day! I spoke to Danielle and she was so happy that Peso could go home, but asked me if it would be OK to pick him up on Tuesday, when she got paid. This message was relayed to Susan T., the director, and Lost Dogs Illinois paid the redemption fee so this sweet dog could go home. He had been there long enough. Happy holidays and welcome home Peso - you are loved.
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"Thank you so much I really appreciate you helping me get my dog back. I'm so happy."
***Photo of Peso back home!***
~Jeanette
Lost Dogs Illinois
Microchip Hunters

​Ursula wound up at Chicago Animal Care and Control with a microchip registered to a disconnected phone number. It was sent to MicrochipHunters for help.

After many attempts, and a couple of days of trying numbers possibly connected to the owner, I was finally able to speak to the brother of the registered owner, Cynthia. He told me he would let Cynthia know about Ursula and have her call me.

We spoke two days later, and Cynthia told me she got the message and went to see Ursula right away. At one time, she was not able to keep her and had sold her to another family. She wanted to leave her at CACC for a few more days because she felt she had to do the right thing in case the person she was sold to came looking for her. Cynthia, however, told me if they didn't come, she was now able to keep her, and was very happy to. She loves Ursula.

Cynthia waited a few more days, then went to pick Ursula up. "She's doing great. She is awesome. She's getting comfortable to the new place." She also told me she will be sure to update the phone number on her microchip.

We don't know how Ursula wound up at CACC. We are happy that Cynthia is now able to have her back in her life, and that she didn't have to stay in the shelter any longer than her stray hold. She is loved.
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Cynthia sent these pictures of her and Ursula, back together again!

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~Jeanette
Lost Dogs Illinois
Microchip Hunters

Chicago Animal Care and Control sent a microchip case to #MicrochipHunters yesterday. It was for a beautiful German Shepherd named Rambo. Rambo's owner had a disconnected phone number, and an incorrect address attached to his information, which MicrochipHunters received from the microchip company as well as the Anti-Cruelty Society, where he was adopted.

All of the volunteers had a busy afternoon, so I started to search for Rambo's family early evening! Just then, an email came through from CACC, letting MicrochipHunters know that Rambo's family came in looking for him. It was very sad for them, as they had to leave without him. They were short on money to pay for the reclaim fee.

Because Lost Dogs Illinois' mission is to reunite lost dogs with their owners, and reduce the number of strays in shelters, I reached out to the director and of course she said, "yes, let's help this family get their dog home."

This beautiful couple clearly loves their dog; I let them know that if they could pay a small portion, we would pay the rest. They told me, translated from Spanish, that "these days have been so sad for them without their boy home, and that they love him so much."

What a great feeling to help get their dog back to them. They couldn't be happier and said, "there needs to be more people like you in the world, helping these animals." We couldn't have said it better ourselves. ​

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Last weekend as a new volunteer with the #MicrochipHuntersILteam, I took the case of a cat at @CACC. The phone number on the microchip registration was no longer active, but I sent an email. The owner replied quickly and let me know that he had been in a car accident that left him unable to care for himself and had been sent to live with family in Florida. He actually had two cats, Anastasia and Lily and was completely heartbroken that due to the accident he did not have the resources to bring them with.
Discussing it further he explained to me how both cats were rescues and he had moved cross country with them twice before. This time as much as he wanted to bring them with it simply was not possible. I could hear his love for them as he described each of their personalities and habits in detail and then his devastation as he talked about being forced to leave them. We both cried and I knew I had to help find a way to get the cats back to him.
I shared the story with the LDI director and she agreed. We got to work right away. Real Estate to the Rescue of Homeless Animals Chicago was contacted and they generously agreed to pay the redemption fees to help get these sweet cats home.
Steve (pictured above) kindly volunteered to take the time out of his day to pick up them up from CACC, and take them to a wonderful family that offered to foster them so they weren't taking up space at the shelter while we worked out how they would get to Florida. What an awesome community effort! Their owner is overjoyed to know he will soon be reunited with his beloved furbabies.
Anastasia and Lily are currently in their foster home doing great and a volunteer transport is in the works.

Part 2 - The Transport.

We have a fantastic update! Kitties Lily and Anastasia are on their way home to their dad in Orlando. A very sweet and wonderful woman named Kristin was planning to drive there from IL and offered to let the girls ride along! We can't thank her enough!
Foster parents Cheryl and Edgar said goodbye last night, they have taken wonderful care of the girls while we worked on transport and will miss them but are very happy they get to go home. Rockstar #LostDogsIllinois volunteer Jeanette made a last minute, 90 mile, late night trip to get them from the foster home and meet Kristin!
This has been an incredible group effort and would not have been possible without the help of Real Estate to the Rescue of Homeless Animals Chicago! We love that they supported making this reunion happen.
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Part 3 - The Homecoming

Kitties Lily and Anastasia went on a 1,200 mile journey and were finally reunited with their Dad this afternoon!
Our hero Kristin drove the entire way from Illinois to Orlando and delivered them to his house! ❤
From their Dad:
"Please let everyone that was involved know from the bottom of my heart how happy and full of tears I am that my fur babies are at home.
Thank you really just doesn't do this justice, but thanks to everyone for the outpouring of love."