KarunaNews Story

Nearly five years after the disappearance of Choco, her rescue dog, Patricia Orozco was surprised to get a text from a microchip company in Lincoln, Michigan, saying that Choco had been found, tied to a fence — 2,300 miles away from home in Sacramento, California. But Orozco, 29, who adopted Choco from her local shelter in 2016, has two young children, including a 4-month-old, so she didn’t know how she would get him home. She asked for advice on Facebook. Cindy Walden — a former animal control officer and board member of Helping Paws and Claws nonprofit in Loomis, California — volunteered to help, and Penny Scott, a volunteer humane dog trapper in Sacramento, said she could get a standby ticket. Then after another community member donated airline miles, Scott and Choco arrived in Sacramento on Dec.3. “It took a village, but it all just came together,” Walden said. Orozco calls it a Christmas miracle.