Rescue Dog Reunited with Family After He's Found Living with Coyote Pack in Nevada
Courtesy The Animal Foundation The Cabada family reunites with dog Hades, AKA Ghost
A rescue dog is back with his Las Vegas family after months of running with a pack of coyotes in the Nevada desert.
The 4-year-old bull terrier mix — nicknamed Ghost but whose real name is Hades — has been returned to the Cabada family following a custody battle with the women who saved him from the wild and nicknamed him Ghost, USA Today reported Wednesday, citing the nonprofit Animal Foundation shelter.
The outlet added that the reunion happened after the family provided videos, photographs and documents that proved they'd been searching for their dog.
"There was plenty of evidence this was their dog," shelter spokeswoman Kelsey Pizzi said, per USA Today.
"It was a very emotional reunion," Pizzi told USA Today. "As soon as Hades saw his family, he ran right over to them and his tail never stopped wagging. The children were crying and Hades kept jumping into everyone's arms."
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Speaking to USA Today, Christy Cabada revealed the emotional cost of the incident.
"This past week I was feeling horrible," she said. "I had anxiety and a knot in my chest and honestly, all of it went away when he recognized us. My heart felt full of love."
"We got him some Valentine's treats, he's here, home in his big old fluffy bed," she added.
While authorities previously believed Hades was dumped in the desert as a puppy, Cabada told Inside Edition that he escaped from her yard in August and had not been seen since.
"He ran out, his fence is so little. He just jumped over that fence and he took off running," Cabada told the news show.
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Before the canine's rescue occurred and his story was shared, residents in the Inspirada neighborhood of Henderson, southeast of Las Vegas, had seen the dog among the wild animals on a near-nightly basis and had posted sightings of the all-white pup on social media.
"It seems like he may have been put out there ... and somehow or another, the coyotes just accepted him," Susan McMullen of the Southern Nevada Trapping Team told Fox 5 Vegas.
Neighbors frequently tried to approach the dog, but he eluded capture by seemingly disappearing, which is how he earned his nickname, Ghost.
The Southern Nevada Trapping Team used crowdsourced information to locate Hades, eventually luring the dog into a crate with food. The rescuers discovered the depths of Hades' hunger when an exam revealed that the dog had eaten rocks while in the wild. He also had scars across his body, in addition to an infection and a broken toe, USA Today said.
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Earlier in February, McMullen raised funds for his medical care and planned to place the dog for adoption. This all changed when a local news station did a story on the dog's life in the wild — which was seen by the Cabadas.
Cabada sent McMullen photos of the dog to prove ownership, despite his lack of a chip, reported USA TODAY.
While McMullen initially refused to let the dog go, in a confrontation that led to police intervention and Clark County Animal Protection stepping in to house the dog for a few days as custody was confirmed, Hades was finally reunited with the Cabadas.
According to USA Today, McMullen posted a video to Facebook on Feb. 14 saying she would contend the custody ruling, however, as of Feb. 16, the video was not available.
