When the side door of a sheriff’s vehicle opened, Fig bounded out with delight and raced across the gravel toward her family, who had spent 10 days searching for her. The 7-year-old Australian shepherd had been found nearly 30 miles from home, and within seconds, the distance between them disappeared.
Fireworks and gunfire frightened Fig around the Fourth of July holiday, sending her fleeing from California’s Lindsay/Strathmore area. While she was gone, her guardian, Kattie Cassaday, and her family drove mile after mile, posted flyers, and searched wherever they could. A good samaritan tried to help, but Fig was nowhere to be found.
Cassaday kept believing Fig was somewhere out there. “I felt like, she’s out there. I know she’s out there if I could just find her,” she told ABC News. The family then filed a missing dog report with the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, and deputies joined the search.
A new lead took Sergeant Ricky Morley to the person who had found Fig. Less than 24 hours after the report was filed, deputies located Fig. Nearly 30 miles separated Fig from home, but the long road back was almost over.
On July 15, Morley arrived with Fig. In the sheriff’s office body-camera video, the side door opens. Fig leaps down, races across the gravel, and rolls onto her side as her family gathers around her. After 10 days of searching, there was no distance left between them. Cassaday had three words for the moment: “all this relief.”
Cassaday said she trusted Morley from their first conversation. Morley, who has spent about 20 years on the job, called the outcome “awesome” and said a happy ending like this made the work worthwhile. For Fig’s family, the searching and wondering were finally over. Their beloved companion was home.
Fig’s return is a joy. Her ordeal began with sounds many people associate with celebration, but Lady Freethinker has documented how fireworks can leave dogs, cats, horses, and wildlife frightened, disoriented, or in danger. For animals who cannot understand the blasts, the instinct to flee can carry them far beyond the safety of home.
This story is a reminder that celebration does not have to come at animals’ expense. Communities can keep the color, movement, and wonder in the sky with quieter alternatives, including drone light shows, without the explosive booms that can send animals hiding, trembling, or running.
Please join Lady Freethinker in celebrating Fig’s safe return and thanking the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office for helping bring this beloved companion home. Fig’s joyful reunion gives communities one more reason to choose animal-friendly drone shows, so fewer celebrations end with frightened animals lost and families searching for them.
