Search for missing dog ongoing after I-80 rollover crash in Clinton County
The search for two dogs missing after a rollover crash on Interstate 80 near the Jersey Shore exit in Clinton County has captured the hearts and minds of people in the area and beyond, as many rallied to help the out-of-town owners find their “fur babies.”
One dog was found Thursday, but the other is still missing.
Jessica Alvarez, 33, and her boyfriend, Gary Vetter, 38, were driving home to Kalamazoo, Michigan, from a Christmas Day celebration with family in New York, when Vetter swerved to avoid hitting a deer on I-80 and their vehicle rolled three times and landed in a ditch, according to The Lock Haven Express.
The crash happened Wednesday at 5:30 a.m. at mile marker 187, and when the couple searched around their totaled car for the dogs — Jordy, a 4-year-old white bulldog, and Nash, a 10-month-old rottweiler/Doberman mix wearing a reindeer collar — they were gone.
Alvarez’s initial Facebook post about the missing dogs was shared 1,300 times, and the Express and WNEP did stories on the missing dogs.
Jordy, who had torn her ACL prior to the crash but sustained eye and foot injuries in the crash, was found a mile and a half east of the crash site after a day of searching, Alvarez said in a phone interview.
Nash was last spotted shortly after the crash on Pepper Run Road by the Southern Clinton County Sportsman’s Club in Loganton.
Nash and Jordy would normally stick together, Alvarez said, but they must have gotten separated in the crash.
“He’s probably really scared,” she said.
The couple has been overwhelmed with support from the communities in Clinton County and beyond.
Friday morning, Alvarez said, they were out looking for Nash, “and four cars stopped, all looking for him. People all night were looking for him. I’ve been getting so many phone calls and text messages.”
Bellabon’s Pet Recovery Services in Muncy and Where’s Fido in Loganton have been helping with the search for Nash. They are requesting that anyone who sees Nash not run toward him or yell out for him, as it might spook him.
If you do see Nash, Alvarez said the pet recovery services recommend gently talking to him and letting him come to you.
“He’s really friendly,” she said.
There is some speculation that Nash might have been taken in by a well-meaning family. Alvarez is requesting that anyone who is familiar with the area call on their neighbors, the Amish and anyone else who might not know about Nash to look for him.
“I just really need everybody that would not know to look for dogs to look for him,” she said.
Alvarez’s employer, a medical marijuana dispensary in Portage, Michigan, called Lake Effect, is offering a reward for anyone who has information that helps find Nash.
Because Alvarez and Vetter have been staying in a hotel over the past few days and racking up veterinarian bills for Jordy, Alvarez said her friend started a GoFundMe page for the couple.
But Alvarez said the people she has encountered in central Pennsylvania could not have been kinder during this ordeal.
“Thank you so much to Lock Haven and to Loganton,” she said. “Literally it’s like a Hallmark movie. We could not have imagined crash landing in a better place. We want to retire here and bring our dogs back here ... because it’s the best place ever.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2018 at 2:32 PM.
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