In a heartfelt video, the daughter of the missing 78-year old man whose pet dog led an off duty officer to his rescue shares the details of how their pet dog played a key role in finding her missing father.
Fred Rapp, 78, was reported missing to Manchester Police on November 27 by daughter Heidi Sarno, who in a video said she was expecting her father to be home by 4.30 pm, reported New York Post. Officers started a search operation for the elderly man same evening but couldn’t contact him. The nine-hour-long search operation came to a stop when his pet dog, Petey, led an off duty police officer to his owner near a trail in New Jersey woods in the United States.
According to the report, Heidi in a thankful video said, “My dad has some forgetfulness and was lost in the woods.”
Rapp had crashed his car in the woods and got lost, but luckily for him, the chance encounter of Petey and off duty police officer Sgt. Charles Brooks who was hunting in the 251-acre Crossley Preserve site, saved the life of Rapp. Petey had left her owner to seek help, according to New York Post. Officials stated that the dog’s footprints helped in leading Sgt. Brooks to Rapp. Rapp had just answered a call from Sgt.Theodore Cooke, trying to get a hold of him for the past few hours.
Heidi further shared in the video that Rapp is an outdoor man so she wasn’t surprised that he was out that way, but she is thankful that Petey was with him. “Whether she heard the hunter in the woods, the sergeant in the woods, or what happened… but she went ahead and found help and that’s when the sergeant noticed her and she led him to where my father was located,” the daughter said.
After their location was accessed, Brooks escorted Rapp to an open area from where he was transported to Bone Hill Road and treated by Manchester First Aid.
Heidi revealed that it was just another day for the brave canine who is her father’s best friend.
“Petey has been with my dad for ten years, she was a rescue and we think she is a mix of Labrador and Pit Bull. We call her ‘Gentle Giant’ because she’s a sweetheart and my dad nicknamed her ‘Tiger’ because she chases all the animals away up in New York where he lives,” Sarno said in the video. As for Rapp, Heidi claim that her father is doing well and is recovering from the incident.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here