In early November, a single photo of an emaciated and scared dog along the railroad tracks near Alberton blew up on social media between Frenchtown and Superior.

Dog-lovers sprang into action through a coordinated effort from Bessie Spangler who works diligently reuniting lost pups with their owners. 

She recruited assistance from Kim and Travis Williams in Huson who own Pronking Pastures Rescue and Sanctuary. 

“They are a rescue I work with quite frequently. They have used my large cage trap a handful of times,” she said. 

Kim Williams said the next step was putting the trap into action.

“At that point there were a lot of community members involved so we were just assisting with checking the trap on a regular basis," Williams said. "This is just because if too many people are looking for a skittish dog, sometimes it forces the dog to move away from the stimulus so we just tried to assist [Spangler] when needed. Then in the last week of January, we were notified that the dog was spotted again in a remote area in Cyr.” 

With the help from volunteers who were again engaged into action, they were able to contact a landowner and gain access to the national forest through his property. 

“We then set a trap and the first two days there was no activity. That is when we realized we had to hike around and look for signs of the pup and put out feeding stations to find his location," Williams said. "This took about three days. Once he was in the vicinity of the trap he went in and was caught, which enabled us to get emergency medical attention for the dog.”

The Williams have a chip-scanner at their facility, and this dog had a microchip, but sadly he had been rehomed from the registered owner to a local individual who didn’t provide proper care nor sought help when the dog went missing. 

“At this point the dog's health is our main priority and since he is in such critical condition, he requires medical visits every couple of days and two-hour vital checks. We are currently still in the very early phases of medically assessing the dog and doing a proper refeeding program to ensure that we don't do more damage to his body,” she explained.

The dog's name that is registered to his microchip is Jack. 

“Which was very fitting, as when we were scouting and trapping the dog we usually take our children with us as it is a family affair in rescue. My daughter told me that if he was a boy she wanted to name him Jack,” Williams said. “She was truly a driving force for me to attempt to trap this pup as trapping is mentally and physically exhausting and takes a lot of time. She gave great pep talks. I felt it was a sign so we are sticking to the name.”

Pronking Pastures Rescue and Sanctuary have Jack in their possession today giving him the best care possible. 

“We are hoping we will have a better idea of a game plan with him as the blood test comes back,” Williams said. “Once we have a better idea, we will be looking for a medical foster home for Jack to have a quiet place to rehab in. Our long-term goal is to find Jack his forever home as he has had a difficult past four years of his life and he is such a great example of resilience and strength. Jack is one of the most affectionate dogs we have had in rescue and we are very excited to be a part of his journey on finding his forever family. He truly deserves it.” 

For more information contact Kim Williams at [email protected].