Dog Reunited with Family After Tornado

The Belasquez family thought they'd never see their beloved dog, Sarah, again after a tornado blew apart their house. Turns out, they were wrong.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on May 26 2008

Last Thursday, as a deadly twister approached her house in remote Windsor, Colorado, Maria Belasquez knew she didn’t have much time to prepare for the natural disaster. She hurried her two children and the family’s two pets, a cat, Buddy, and a black lab, Sarah, down to the house’s laundry room, where they would be able to ride out the tornado in safety.

But when a neighbor came knocking on the front door, the two animals got loose. Though the family members and their neighbor survived the tornado’s damage, the house was wrecked - and worse yet, Sarah and Buddy were missing.

The next day, Belasquez and her family began searching through the debris around their street, searching for any signs of their beloved pets. But it seemed hopeless: the animals had been swept away from the house by the tornado, and their chances of survival seemed miniscule.

On the off-chance that he might find the family’s pets, Maria’s husband, Michael, stopped by a local animal shelter and described the two missing animals to a volunteer there. He described Sarah as “a black lab wearing a red collar, a friendly dog.”

A moment later, the volunteer led Michael over to a row of kennels, and opened one. Sarah came running to him, eager to cover him in kisses. She had an eye injury, but the storm had left her otherwise unscathed - and she was thrilled to be reunited with her family.

Sadly, there has been no sign of Buddy the cat yet, but the Belasquez family is counting their blessings nonetheless.

“This is an answer to our prayers, and means so much to our children,” Maria Belasquez told ABC News.

Filed under: Animals and Pets,

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