Missing New York dog turns up 2 years later in Florida

NEWBURGH, N.Y., Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A small dog stolen from a yard in Newburgh, N.Y., in 2012 has been found -- in an animal shelter in Ocala, Fla.

Nika, a toy fox terrier only 6 months old when she disappeared, was identified by a microchip. Giuseppe DiBella got a call last week that she was alive, although somewhat underweight.

"I said, 'All right, I'm coming to take it. Where are you?' They said, 'We are in Marion County.' I said, 'Where is Marion county?' They said, 'In Florida,'" DiBella told WCBS-TV. "And I said, 'I'm in New York!'"

DiBella said he was doing yard work in May 2012 when someone grabbed Nika, who then weighed 3 pounds. He spent months distributing flyers and searching animal shelters before getting another dog, Martha.

He was thinking about getting another dog so Martha would have a companion when he got the call.

No one knows how Nika got from Newburgh, a small city on the Hudson River 60 miles north of New York, to Ocala, 1,000 miles away. She landed in the shelter after turning up in a front yard in Ocala.

A friend in Florida is now giving Nika a temporary home and feeding her up. DiBella expects to get her back on Thanksgiving.

"I was feeling, like, biblical -- when the son comes back to the father, you know, those kind of things," DiBella said.