Man reunited with dog after she appears in LaBelle 2 years after disappearing in Maryland

Reporter: Asha Patel Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:

A man has been reunited with his dog after she went missing for two years and many states away.

They say a dog is a man’s best friend, and Tony Duncan can agree.

Duncan lives in Maryland, and his almost 7-year-old American pitbull, Luna, has always been at his side—on walks, playing in the backyard and around the house—until one day…

“She took off running into the woods. She took off, usually it’s a few minutes, but to this day, a few years ago, she never came back,” said Duncan.

Not for a few days, weeks, or months, but for two years.

“It was very hard to lose her. Every single day goes by, you wait for her. After two years, it felt like it was never gonna happen,” said Duncan.

But then something amazing did happen.

“I got a phone call last week from LaBelle, Florida, from an unknown number. They said it was LaBelle Animal Rescue and said they found my dog,” said Duncan.

WINK News reporter Asha Patel spoke to Doug Morgan with LaBelle County Animal Control.

He said the Hendry County Sheriff’s Office found Luna in a Walmart parking lot in LaBelle.

They brought Luna to the shelter, where they used a device to scan Luna for a microchip.

“The chips are placed in between the dog’s collarbone,” said Morgan. “You just go over the dog, it pops up the number. We have a cheat sheet that says what chip company to contact that has this specific chip and they give me the updated info.”

While Luna couldn’t talk, the microchip sure did.

“We ended up getting information, which turned out being a gentleman named Tony Duncan and has an address in Maryland,” said Morgan.

Duncan got the call on Monday.

“I started shaking because I couldn’t believe the news I was hearing,” said Duncan.

After that call, Duncan sent this text to Doug: “Hey Doug, we are en route from Maryland. I hope to be there in the morning. Thanks again. “

And this is what happened the next morning: two years apart, two years of memories lost, and two years of wondering where Luna was.

“She’s here now. This is her best friend here; his name is Trooper. He was super excited to see her,” said Duncan. “He’s just an old, sleepy man.”

Now the question remains: how did Luna end up one thousand miles away from Maryland to Florida?

We may never get answers to this question, but having Luna back at his side is all that matters to Duncan right now.

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