According to the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office, a dog in California was reunited with her owner after going missing 12 years ago. She had been separated from her family.
When the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office received a report on Feb. 10, it was about a stray dog that had been abandoned on a rural farm outside Stockton, the department dispatched deputies to investigate.
According to the sheriff’s office, Animal Service Officer Brandon Levin was dispatched to recover the dog, which was apparently old and in poor health.
Upon scanning the dog, it was discovered that the dog’s name was Zoey and that she had gone missing from her hometown of Lafayette, California, in 2010.
Zoey had been lost for so long that the business that manufactures her microchip listed her as “dead” in 2015, according to the sheriff’s office. Zoey had been missing for so long that the company that created her microchip identified her as “death.”
Following her reunion with Zoey, Zoey’s owner Michelle explained how she and her twin sister were adopted from the pound when they were six months old.
“They were with us for about six months, and then we went to the store for about 20 minutes and came back, and she was missing,” Michelle said after being reunited with Zoey.
Because Michelle had maintained the same phone number for more than a decade, officers were able to reunite Michelle and Zoey.
Michelle and Zoey were reunited at some point, but the exact date is unknown. The reunion was announced on Facebook by the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office on Friday.