A man who was apparently angry and upset abandoned a pit bull mix named Zimba in Maryland and refused to answer calls from his girlfriend.
The dog was rescued by a local animal shelter. The problem? The owner (and ex-girlfriend) lived 1,000 miles away in Wichita, Kansas.
“We tried contacting Airlines but that proved to be an unsuccessful solution,” the Caroline County Humane Society wrote on its Facebook page. ” We even contacted the Humane Society where his mom had originally adopted him. They did not have a solution for us either.”
The woman said she wasn’t able to drive to Maryland due to her children and job.
Zach Holt, a former shelter employee, volunteered to drive the dog back after he heard the story.
“I’m a bartender,” he told the station. “I strictly work, you know, the weekends and Monday and I have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday off. And four days is plenty of time to get to Kansas and back, so I said, ‘Why not?'”
They began their journey, and on the first day, Zimba slept most of the day.
“All the hard work, you know, of coordinating everything and having him found, you know, the person that took time out of their day to actually, you know, wrangle Zimba and make sure that they got in contact with somebody. I mean that was awesome… it was just as easy for them to just ride on by and be like ‘Oh look, there’s a stray dog,’” Holt said.
According to the shelter, the dog made it back home.
“Zimba ... safe and content. We would like to once again thank all of you who have followed, supported, donated and cheered on Zach and Zimba during their awesome adventure. And, of course, we can never thank Zach enough for driving all the way from Ridgely, MD to Wichita, KS to make one family’s.... and one dog’s... Christmas wish come true. There truly is no place like home,” the page said.
In addition, the shelter said the incident should serve as a lesson.
“We should all JUST TRY. We can all make a difference. No matter how large or how small,” it said.
What’s more, the shelter noted, is that pet microchips do work, as it helped Zimba find her rightful owner.
“Zimba would never have found his way home without his...and his mom had properly registered it and kept information current!” the page wrote.
