When the flashing lights of a California Highway Patrol car appeared behind two Santa Clarita women working to rescue a stray dog from the side of the 14 freeway last week, a unique partnership was born.
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Lorena Zeballos, founder of All Animal Search and Rescue Team, and volunteer Denise Hill were searching for a lost lab on a dirt path near the Rancho Vista Blvd onramp in Palmdale when they spotted a trail of large paw prints.
“I sighted the dog and he was looking straight at us,” Zeballos recalled, noting that it wasn’t the lab they were searching for, but what appeared to be a very matted Chow Chow. “We started walking away so we wouldn’t chase him onto the freeway and we could figure something out.”
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Already prepared with a large trap, chicken and other supplies they routinely use to safely catch lost and stray animals, Zeballos and Hill had set the trap a short ways off the freeway and were tossing chicken toward the Chow Chow when a CHP officer pulled up behind their vehicle with his lights on.
Unsure of what to expect, the female duo watched the officer emerge with a catch pole and attempt to save the dog himself, but to no avail.
“The dog was going very close to the side of the freeway,” Zeballos said. “We were trying to tell him we set a trap, and he couldn’t hear us because of the traffic.”
After Hill took the All Animal Search and Rescue Team magnet off the side of their car so the officer could see it, he waved them over so they could explain the situation, introducing himself as Officer Taggart.
“He was very, very nice,” Zeballos said. “He said … ‘It’s very dangerous — you guys are being cautious, but the drivers are looking at you guys and what you’re doing, so they’re not being cautious.’”
After Taggart directed the pair to the other side of a fence along the freeway, they watched as a second CHP officer — Officer Borne — appeared with his lights on too, weaving across the freeway lanes to stop traffic as the dog retreated safely back into the brush.
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Borne then pulled over, and the group devised a plan to have one officer stay near the freeway railing to make sure the dog didn’t run into traffic, while Zeballos and the second officer attempted to close in on the pup with catch poles.
The foursome managed to drive the dog further away from the freeway and into the entrance of a large water drainage tunnel, which created the perfect opportunity to set up the trap. After helping Zeballos and Hill move the heavy trap, the officers left the pair to watch the area with the promise to return later.
Around 5 p.m. — nearly four hours after Zeballos first spotted the Chow Chow — the pup finally gave in to the smell of chicken and entered the trap that had been waiting for him.
“It was Denise’s first (catch),” Zeballos recalled. “So she was very emotional, and of course that made me emotional. (It) was just a very exciting moment because he was safe.”
Taggart returned just in time to carry the the heavy trap up a small hill and load it into Zeballos’ vehicle, which she noted the female duo wouldn’t have been able to do on their own.
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“Honestly, I didn’t expect that much (help),” Zeballos said of her unexpected partnership with Taggart and Borne. “(It) was just above and beyond what we expected, and we are so grateful.”
After a visit to a veterinarian, the Chow Chow was determined to be an unaltered six- to seven-year-old male with no microchip. He is now being fostered by Lancaster resident Richard Maldonado while All Animal Search and Rescue Team attempts to find his owners, and goes by the name “Gibbs” for the timebeing.
“The dog knows commands,” Zeballos said, “so we believe that there’s an owner out there.”
Now that Gibbs is safe in his foster home, Zeballos and Hill have reached out to the California Highway Patrol office in an effort to thank Officers Taggart and Borne, and posted the following statement dedicated to the officers on social media:
“It was our honor working with you to help this pup get to safety! The pup is safe and with a loving foster home… Because of all of us working together, this pup is safe and alive!”
This is a very heartwarming story of Service Beyond the Call of Duty!
Thank you all, esp CHP who didn’t have to help.
Great story that ended up with a happy ending!
I certainly hope Gibbs either finds his owner or goes to a suitable new forever home. If the owner is found, I hope he/she is advised to get a microchip and collar with an ID…basic 101 dog owner protocol.
Kudos to the officers for their assistance! Officers get a bad rap and it’s stories like this that can show the great qualities of the men in blue!