Two dogs that were pushed out of a moving vehicle Wednesday night were reunited with their owner Thursday afternoon.
Geraldine Davis, 55, of Vancouver woke up Thursday morning to learn her 3-year-old Chihuahua, Poncho, and her 7-year-old cocker spaniel, Seeley, were missing. It appeared that fireworks had scared them, and the two had escaped from a shop on her property and a fence surrounding the yard.
“I yelled for them and looked all over,” she said.
In hopes that someone had found her pups, Davis posted the news on Craigslist and Facebook. Hours later, she got good news: Her pets were at the Humane Society of Southwest Washington.
She soon learned, however, of the horrific night that Seeley and Poncho endured.
It appeared someone had picked the dogs up, only to force them out of their vehicle about a quarter of a mile away, said Clark County Animal Control Officer Trisha Kraff.
“I don’t understand why people would do something like that,” Davis said.
Andrew Naidenov, 22, of Ridgefield witnessed the incident at the Northeast Padden Parkway onramp to northbound Interstate 205 and called police at 9:55 p.m. Wednesday.
He drove up behind a white four-door car that had slowed to 15 to 20 mph on the onramp, then he saw the left rear door open and two dogs forced out onto the shoulder.
“That was a shock to me,” he said. “I pressed on the horn and didn’t let go.”
He said the car then sped off.
“I considered trying to follow them, but I thought the dogs would probably go into forest and something would happen to them,” he said.
So he got out and found the two dogs rolling on the ground. He opened the trunk of his vehicle and they both jumped inside. They were not injured.
Troopers responded, along with Critter Gitter, a company that helps with animal control issues. They took the dogs to the Humane Society of Southwest Washington.
The dogs had collars but no tags.
The agency regularly checks Craigslist for lost animal posts, and so on Thursday morning, Humane Society employees reached out to Davis.
Kraff continues to investigate the incident in hopes of figuring out who dumped the dogs on the road.
Naidenov told troopers there were at least two people in the car, one driving and one sitting in the back seat who tossed the dogs.
“I thought that was pretty heartless,” he said.
He described the car as possibly a mid to late 90s Ford Taurus with Washington plates that may have had three letters followed by four numbers. He could not provide a description of the occupants.
Anyone who has information on the incident is asked to call Kraff at 360-397-2375, extension 5853.
Davis said that despite what happened, she was thankful to have her dogs back.
