The following is a complete version of an article appearing in the Jan. 28 print edition of The Courier-Herald; the print version was edited for length. This original account was written by Dylan Parkinson.
Annie was hit by a car on January 1st in Enumclaw. A woman that witnessed the accident attempted to grab Annie, but was unable to capture her as Annie was frightened and bit her…so she sent a frantic message to Amanda Guarascio and her girlfriend, Dylan Parkinson, begging for the girls to find this dog and rescue her.
Amanda and Dylan run a website and Facebook page called Lost & Found Pets WA State. The pages are used as a tool for locating and getting pets home safely via social media.
The girls rushed out to the scene where they saw the blood in the street, and the bloody paw prints that led into a field. They followed her tracks, but it was extremely dark out and they had come without the proper flashlight for the job..so they decided to call the non emergency number for Enumclaw.
They asked dispatch if they had any available officers to come and search the field with their flashlights. To their surprise, they sent out an officer promptly and he spent 45 minutes walking the field with Amanda, thoroughly checking high and low. They were unable to locate the dog, so Dylan and Amanda thanked the officer and started driving around looking. Passing by the field an hour later, they were surprised to see that there were now two police officers in both of the fields with spotlights!
Since that night, the girls of LFPWS have spent COUNTLESS hours every single day, searching all of Enumclaw, covering the town in “HAVE YOU SEEN ANNIE?” posters (which were intended to grab the attention of people in town), knocking on hundreds of doors, hiring a search dog….you name it, they tried it!
The community began to come together, talking to each other and spreading the word. Volunteers went out and searched on foot and in their vehicles every day, some made posters and some brought out supplies to those that were searching. Everybody had the same goal, to find Annie and to get her the medical attention she desperately needed.
The girls searched with Annie’s family for 19 long days, all of them running on very little (if any!) sleep.On January 19th, Dylan and Amanda woke up and were headed to get their morning coffee, when they received a frantic voicemail.”I’m a maintenance man from Mountain Meadows Mobile Home park. I have your dog. SHE IS SEVERELY HURT. somebody needs to get over here and help this animal RIGHT now. She is missing a paw….” their hearts nearly burst in their chest!!!! They called the man back and he told them where she was, at which point they raced over there in (record) time. As they pulled up in front of the storage yard, the amazing man greeted them and asked if they had a blanket. They did. They had no idea what to expect, all they knew was THIS WAS IT. ANNIE HAD BEEN FOUND!!!!
As they walked over to the open storage unit, they stopped cold in their tracks. There she was….laying on a little foam pad by a boat. Though they had been warned, nothing could prepare them for what they saw. Beautiful little Annie, just laying there….her right paw was gone. The bones in her leg were completely exposed almost all the way up to her shoulder. She licked at the wound and watched the girls nervously.Dylan and the man that had found her stepped away from the unit so that the dog would not be frightened as Amanda attempted to retrieve her. Dylan was frantically calling Annie’s mom (Terri Kilbourne)
Amanda’s heart was beating out of her chest. She held the blanket tightly and slowly approached her. As to be expected, Annie began to growl. Amanda set the blanket down on the ground and turned her back to Annie and sat on the ground, slowly scooting toward her. She could hear her, frightened and growling as she got closer. Once Amanda was close enough, she slowly put her hand out behind herself and extended her arm out to the terrified dog without looking.
She was almost certain she would get bit, but she didn’t care. Amanda closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she held her hand out to her. Wincing, she waited nervously, waiting for the bite. She could feel Annie gently sniffing her hand, “this is it…” Amanda thought, and braced herself for the bite that she was sure would soon follow. But then, after a few gentle sniffs…….Annie started to lick her hand. Her eyes filled with tears and she turned around to look at the pup. Annie looked at her with those big beautiful eyes and tilted her head slowly down. Amanda carefully reached around and scratched her chin gently, and began to stroke her face. She rested her tired head in Amanda’s hands.
A friend of the family arrived just in time. As he walked around the corner and saw Annie, she saw him and perked her ears up. She tried to stand, which was perfect. Amanda was able to put the blanket around her and gently picked her up. She rested her head against her rescuer’s chest, and the girls carried her to the car.
The girls of LFPWS rushed Annie into Sumner Vet, choking back the tears, and the vet assistants rushed to meet them at the door and took the injured dog into the back room. Her mom arrived shortly after. The vet told them what they already knew, that Annie needed to have the rest of her leg amputated.She went into surgery shortly thereafter, and everyone spent the next 6 hours waiting around anxiously.
The out-pour of support and love and donations that came in from the followers of Lost & Found Pets Wa State were overwhelming. They were able to raise the money that was needed for her amputation and for the overnight care she would be needing.
“She is resting now. She made it out of surgery and is doing well.” Was posted to the Facebook page 6 hours later.The vet determined that her shin bone in her back leg is also broken. She is going to require a surgery on that leg as well to replace a ligament. But first, she needs to beat a nasty infection that has grown inside her over the past 19 days.
“She can do this, she is a fighter.”
The vet says they have never seen an injury like this where the dog has actually survived under these circumstances. She is a MIRACLE dog.
Amanda and Dylan’s wonderful friend Janet helped search nearly every single day with her dog Sachi. After they had taken Annie to the vet, they were driving back into town, and happened to see Janet driving behind them they hadn’t had the chance to tell her the amazing news yet, so amanda quickly scribbled “ANNIE IS SAFE” on a piece of paper, and as they pulled into a turn lane, they opened the sun roof and Amanda stood up and held the sign in the air, right as she drove past them… “her face went from “oh hi” to “OH MY GOD WHAT!” in .2 seconds!!!
BEST FEELING EVER!” Amanda said.