Original poster.

On January 27th, 2021, Lumi slipped her collar and took off, running down the busy streets of Brooklyn. They had eyes on her up to a certain point, but then she was gone. Lumi’s dad, Eric, was at a loss as to what to do. The first thing we did was start distributing posters all over Prospect Park. We received a sighting on the East side of the park. Someone claimed to have seen Lumi run out in front of a cab and get side swiped. But Lumi kept on running. I set up a couple feeding stations with some trail cameras, thinking she was hiding in the remote parts near the Zoo. But after January 29th, the sightings dried up. I placed more cameras along the trails hoping to get a sighting, but nothing came of it. We had to sit back and wait for that next call to come in, and to make matters worse, a huge snowstorm was approaching.  

The storm blanketed the city with 14 inches of snow and ice. Lumi had yet to be sighted. Then on February 5th, we received a call. It’s worth mentioning that at this point posters were up, but not nearly as far out as they should have been. Eric had little help and was trying to juggle work with family obligations. On January 5th, a woman contacted Eric to say that she saw his dog on her Ring camera. That she noticed her there for the last two nights. There were no posters in the area. But this woman was kind enough to look up missing dog notices online and found the post that matched Lumi’s. We had a real break in the case.  

The snowstorm that hit Brooklyn.

We knew that Lumi was hanging out at this house that was being renovated, about a mile away from where she lived, but we had no access to the property. It was a weekend, and the construction crew wouldn’t be back until Monday. When we arrived, we couldn't find out where she was entering from. Suddenly, she ran out from the back of a fence, and even though Eric was instructed not to, he said her name. “Hey Lumi” and just like that she was off. Bystanders tried to catch her but had no chance once she picked up her speed. The dreaded question then entered my mind; “Did we just chase her out of the area for good?” We waited all weekend for her to show up again. Pulling all nighters. And after Day 4 we were starting to get concerned. On February 9th, at 1:30 in the morning, she showed up on my camera. Even though we had no sightings in the last few days, I kept a camera and food there the entire time in case she made her way back. Once I figured out her route, and what entrances and exits she was using, I blocked her inside the site. She was trapped and she knew it. Pacing back and forth panting. I managed to get her to calm down and eat some chicken out of my hand. But she was too fearful to come any closer to either myself or Eric.

The narrow gap behind the fence where Lumi was traveling.

She finally shows up on my camera.

Eric had to get back to work. Time was running out. We were lucky enough to get hold of someone from that house that was being renovated and they allowed me to set up a trap. There was only one problem. It was now Monday morning, and within the next twenty minutes, all the workers were coming to that site. This was guaranteed to mess up our chance. I asked Eric if he could go home and as a final effort, get his daughter to bring their other dog, Mica. I didn’t want Eric to be the one to approach Lumi, as she was clearly afraid of men. A little frustrated and exhausted, Eric called his daughter.

Just before the workers were walking onto the site, Eric’s daughter walked their small little black Boston Terrier back to where Lumi was waiting. I told her to pretend she didn’t even know Lumi. To just let the dogs, make the connection. It worked. Once Lumi realized that it was Mica, she ran around, up to the daughter and allowed her to leash her up. Luckily, we got the whole thing on the neighbor's Ring camera. As I was walking away from the site, I couldn’t help but think back to when Eric and I were waiting for that sighting, worried. It was getting cold, and the wind was blowing. We were walking in the back of an abandoned Church. He looked at me and asked, “Do you really think we will get her back?” I remember not knowing what to say. But then it came to me. “Even if we’re wrong about her still being on the run, or even being alive. All we have control over is how much hope we choose to keep.”

Reunion.