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Lost dog rescued from India bolts from her UWS home, through the Midtown Tunnel and found in Queens

Jun. 18, 2021
Lost dog rescued from India bolts from her UWS home, through the Midtown Tunnel and found in Queens

A lost dog from New York City has been reunited with her owner more than a week after she ran away from home.

Indie was living happily on the Upper West Side of Manhattan when she suddenly bolted across the city last Tuesday.

She was spotted by various city residents at different stages of her mad dash before ending up four miles away in a Long Island City warehouse where she was holed up with a bunch of feral cats.

'It's a miracle,' said Heather Angus, a nurse anesthetist, to the New York Post. 'It's the worst nightmare of any dog owner.'

The dog, who only recently had been rescued from the streets of Calcutta in India managed to break free from a dog sitter on Amsterdam Avenue and West 78th Street last week.

Even before she knew her pup had disappeared, Indie already was appearing on Nextdoor, a social media site for neighbors who reported seeing her 'running at speeds never before seen.'

The nimble pooch managed to dodge cars and people who stood in her way as they tried to catch her.

An hour after she began her break for freedom, she was seen on surveillance cameras at the Queens Midtown Tunnel.

MTA workers spotted the dog and even stopped traffic from entering the tunnel to try and catch her, and prevent cars from hitting her.

'Officers blocked traffic to save the dog from potential injury,' an MTA spokesperson said. 'They saved her life.'

The video shows her running between cars at rush hour, making it through the one-mile long tunnel and out the other side, then vanishing once again as she escaped onto the Long Island Expressway.

'I started to feel hopeless but I received a call that night from a Bridge and Tunnels officer who said she tried to stop a dog with an appearance similar to Indie while she was bolting through the Queens Midtown Tunnel,' Angus said to the Post.

'I couldn't piece together how she went from 62nd and West End all the way to the Queens Midtown Tunnel until I received a tip about a dog running down 36th and Fifth. It was amazingly unbelievable but the timelines were matching up.'

Her owner then checked a Facebook page for lost pets and sure enough Indie was on there, having been spotted near Hunters Point in Long Island City, more than four miles from where she managed to break free.

After posting flyers around the area, Angus received a call from a warehouse worker. The dog had spent about a week at a building where a group of feral cats already was living.

'It's like finding a needle in a haystack,' said Michael Ripinsky from the rescue group Zani's Furry Friends who picked up Indie .

'I thought the dog was in Central Park, I was thinking there's no way that dog went from West End Avenue and got to the Midtown Tunnel, I cant find the Midtown Tunnel!

'Somehow she ran through the Midtown Tunnel without getting hit by a car during rush hour traffic and found a warehouse to run into. That's incredible.'

Indie was more or less unscathed aside from losing a pound in weight and a few small scrapes.

'She came home and ran circles around the apartment and found her favorite tennis balls,' Angus said.

'This story is a miracle but it was only possible because of all the angels involved… I've lived in the city for 11 years and it never ceases to amaze me.'


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