Back in April, a German Shepherd fell off a pickup truck and onto busy Highway 99 in Northern California. For over a month afterward, drivers spotting the injured dog near the highway’s center median would call 911, but she would run away whenever anyone tried to save her.
The phone calls stopped in early May.
“I thought something happened — she, you know, died,” Galt Police Officer Silvia Coelho told KCRA.
Then, early in the morning on May 14, a 911 caller reported seeing the dog alive in the median.
“We are getting her today, that’s it,” Coelho told KCRA. “It’s Saturday morning (and) traffic is light. We are getting this dog.”
The California Highway Patrol shut down Highway 99 while Coelho and some other police officers approached the scared dog, who had been nicknamed “Freeway Frida.”
At first Frida resisted, but she quickly surrendered.
“She just laid down and looked at us with those big, brown eyes, and was like, ‘Oh thank you,’ and like, ‘Please help me,’” Coelho told KCRA.
They brought Frida to VCA Bradshaw Animal Hospital in Elk Grove, where she was treated for a broken leg and severe dehydration. While the average weight for a healthy German Shepherd about 65 pounds, Frida weighed only 44 pounds.
After a month of rehabilitation, Frida left the hospital yesterday with her new dog mom — Officer Coelho.
“When we first found her, we were hoping we’d find the owner,” Coelho told FOX40. But no one ever claimed Frida, who did not have a microchip or ID tag.
“As the days went by, I kept coming [to the hospital] to see how she was doing,” Coelho said. “Every time she would see me, she would get all excited. I didn’t want to get emotionally attached, but it’s something you can’t help. She just won my heart over.”
As you can see from this video of their reunion, both Frida and Coelho were delighted to be reunited yesterday. “Can’t tell which one is happier!” said the Galt Police Department on its Facebook page.
Photo via Facebook