Missing Pennsylvania Dog to Fly Home—From Oregon

No one knows how the 7-year-old Jack Russell Terrier made it so far from home
By Elizabeth Armstrong Moore,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 19, 2014 2:00 AM CDT
Missing Pennsylvania Dog To Fly Home—From Oregon
This Sept. 15, 2014, photo from Hillsboro, Ore., shows a Jack Russell terrier named Gidget, who went missing from her Pennsylvania home and turned up at an animal shelter nearly 2,700 miles away.   (AP Photo/Washington County Animal Services)

Five months after 7-year-old Gidget, a Jack Russell terrier, went missing in Huntingdon, Pa., she was recently spotted by a former animal shelter volunteer in the Portland, Ore., suburb of Tualatin—about 2,700 miles from home. Thanks to the microchip embedded in Gidget's skin, the Oregon shelter was able to trace her back to her rightful owner, who is thrilled but hasn't yet revealed her identity, reports the Oregonian. Gidget has lost 5 pounds but appears to be in otherwise good health and remains sociable around people.

No one knows how the dog made it so far from home, though the shelter's caretakers say she doesn't look like she walked. Because the owner couldn't afford a plane ticket to Portland to retrieve her dog, people from across the country have offered to help pay for Gidget's flight home, including an anonymous former East Coast governor, reports the AP. In the end, though, PetLink, manufacturer of the microchip, is paying for the flight home, while a man came to the shelter to pay for all expenses associated with the dog's care in Oregon. (Meanwhile, did you know we stress cats out by expecting them to be as sociable as dogs?)

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