Doggone? Canine Chris, lost in Alabama, somehow ends up … in North Carolina.

HAYDEN, Ala. — When Stacey Staton Elam’s canine ran away, she was devastated.

The black poodle combine, named “Chris” after her late husband, was serving to her cope along with his demise.

“Chris acquired me via essentially the most horrible time in my life, and when he acquired misplaced, it was like I had misplaced a connection to my husband,” Elam mentioned.

However because of a microchip and the kindness of strangers, that connection wasn’t misplaced for lengthy.

Weeks after Chris slipped off his leash whereas on a stroll within the Alabama city of Hayden, Elam obtained an e-mail from an animal shelter that had scanned his microchip. Her beloved companion had been discovered. However the saga wasn’t over.

The animal shelter that was caring for Chris was in Pender County — about 500 miles away.

“I’m on incapacity, so (there) was no approach I might get to North Carolina,” Elam mentioned.

Jewell Horton, supervisor of the Pender County Animal Shelter, posted a photograph of Chris on the ogranization’s Fb web page and defined Elam’s story.

Inside days, native resident Holly Stahl volunteered to make the nine-hour drive to take the canine again residence.

“I’m blessed to have been capable of assist,” Stahl mentioned. “It was completely heartwarming to reunite them!”

Elam wrote in a Fb message that she was overjoyed to see Chris once more.

“When Holly arrived and Chris jumped into my arms, it was like we had by no means been aside,” she mentioned. “I used to be over the moon.”

Horton mentioned she was touched, however not stunned, {that a} member of the neighborhood provided to help.

“We’re very blessed to have such an enormous following on our Fb web page,” Horton mentioned. “Any time we now have a particular wants state of affairs like this, they at all times soar in and soar to our help. I knew in my intestine any person someplace was going to step as much as assist with this case.”

Horton mentioned it’s potential that Chris was picked up by somebody passing via Hayden and escaped once more when he reached North Carolina. When his microchip was scanned, a few of his proprietor’s info wasn’t present, however the e-mail tackle was.

She inspired pet homeowners all over the place to get their animals microchipped.

“(Elam) would have by no means discovered her canine had it not been for that microchip,” she mentioned. “It’s actually the distinction in getting your pet again.

Additionally important to the story’s glad ending was the kindness of strangers who volunteered their time to assist, Horton mentioned.

“It’s simply wonderful how that human-animal bond … how a lot it brings communities collectively,” she mentioned. “That’s one of many wonderful issues about my job, as a result of I work in an business the place that type of compassion nonetheless exists.”

Elam believes, too, that one other issue was at play in serving to get her canine again.

“Being that each one this occurred round my wedding ceremony anniversary,” she mentioned, “I do know my husband Chris had a hand in all of this.”