Family, pet dog reunited weeks after Sandy

NEW YORK, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The owner of a dog who fled after Hurricane Sandy swept through New York says she found the pet at a shelter just before the dog was to be euthanized.

Christine O'Donovan, owner of the shepherd-ridgeback Buster, spotted a photo of her dog posted on the Animal Care & Control shelter's nightly euthanasia list Dec. 13 for animals to be put down the following day, the New York Daily News reported Saturday.

"I looked at the photo and knew it was him," O'Donovan said.

O'Donovan said Buster fled two weeks earlier as workers assessed the damage Sandy caused to her home in Queens. A neighborhood search was unsuccessful and the lack of electricity or an Internet connection meant she couldn't access the shelter's lost-and-found database or go to the shelter.

O'Donovan learned of Buster's whereabouts from Kim Fraser of Sasha's Mission rescue group, who texted O'Donovan after recognizing Buster on the nightly Facebook list.

O'Donovan placed Buster on hold using the shelter's telephone system, telling the Daily News she was praying "he would be alive when we got there."

"He was so happy to see my kids and they were so happy to see him," O'Donovan said.