By Bruce Karnick

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Stray animals are not unusual to see, especially during the summer. One such stray caught the attention of Hastings residents via social media almost two weeks ago. Irene, the one-eyed dog was in her rescue home for all of 12 hours when she decided she wanted to explore Hastings.

11 days went buy and social media was constantly talking about Irene. Her location, her health, where she was headed and most importantly, what NOT to do. Lost K9 and Emotional Rescue teamed up to get her back into safety, knowing that Irene could not be hand caught, they stepped in and asked residents to be hands off.

Hastings responded. During those 11 days, Lost K9 received nearly 100 sightings and over 500 calls, texts, and messages. They mapped every location and created a pattern of her movements. Every time they thought they had her figured out, she moved to a different part of town. They set up traps and trail cams in various spots around town but were unsuccessful.

Finally, Sunday afternoon, they had her on video at the trap location. She did not go in but knew there were treats involved if she did. Would she return? Volunteers had to reset the trap at 1:30 a.m. because a racoon thought the treats were yummy too. Later that day, Irene returned to partake of the treats outside the trap, then when those ran out, she was hungry enough to step inside and boom. Irene was captured!

Irene was able to be seen at a vet here in Hastings Monday morning and seemed to be in good health.

Lost K9 thanked the Hastings Residents for doing everything right. No food out, not attempts at capture, they just kept an eye out for her and reported her location. A huge thank you went out to Empty Pockets 4×4 Service and Dustless Blasting LLC, and Joel Bauer for granting Lost K9 permission and 24-hour access to place a trap on their property to rescue Irene.

If you would like to learn more about Lost K9 and Emotional Rescue, based out of Cottage Grove, a quick search on Facebook will lead you to their respective pages.

Irene was captured and returned to her Emotional Rescue foster family after 11 days of running around Hastings thanks to the tireless work of Lost K9, a non-profit that helps reunite escape artist dogs with their families. Photo Courtesy of Lost K9 social media.