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Puppy stolen from family two years ago found nearly 2,000 miles away

Cedar was injured and covered in snow when she was found.
Cedar was injured and covered in snow when she was found. Cedar was injured and covered in snow when she was found.

A dog stolen from a Florida home two years ago has been reunited with her family after being found abandoned nearly 2,000 miles away.

Cedar, a German shepherd, was just a four-month-old puppy when she was snatched from the back yard of the Peterson family in Southwest Ranches near Miami in May 2017.

Posted by Wings of Rescue on Friday, April 19, 2019

“We put up signs everywhere, we drove the car, we checked neighbourhoods, I hired a private investigator,” Tamara Peterson told the Miami Herald. “For weeks and weeks and then months. We were just devastated.”

Now Cedar is back in the sun-drenched environs of south Florida after being found apparently abandoned and covered in snow in a small town in Colorado.

She was found with an injured leg by the side of the road in the town of Hugo by a deputy marshal after a call from a member of the public.

“The dog was actually snow covered, so I passed it twice, didn’t even see it,” Deputy Marshal Steve Ryan said in a Facebook interview with an interview with Wings Of Rescue, a donor-supported charity that flies pets from disaster areas and overcrowded shelters to safety.

Reunited and it feels so good!!! Cedar has landed! Stolen two years ago from her home in Florida, Cedar was found…Posted by Wings of Rescue on Saturday, April 20, 2019

“She actually wouldn’t get up, so I had to pick her up and put her in my car. She was wet, appeared to be malnourished, but we were able to put her in our pound and she just grew from there.”

Ryan took her to a nearby vet where Cedar’s microchip gave away the fact she was 2,000 miles from home and an effort involving vets and charities in Colorado and Florida was launched to make sure she made it home.

After three weeks of treatment, she was taken back to Florida by Wings Of Rescue and reunited with her family.

“I immediately cried,” Peterson said. “I couldn’t believe it. I was in shock. It’s almost two years to the day.”