9 October 2023
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KSNT) – Helping greyhounds find their forever homes is nothing new for Kansas City Retired Greyhounds as Pets (KCREGAP). Since the nonprofit opened its doors back in the 90s, it has helped more than 5,000 greyhounds find families.
“We adopt three hours outside of the Kansas City areas, so the Lawrence, Topeka coverage area are included, and we’ve been rescuing greyhounds since 1992,” KCREGAP Board Member Lisa Horn said.
Back in late June, one of the worst things that could happen for the nonprofit happened. One of its dogs, Midnight, got loose. During some of the hottest portions of the summer, Midnight was all on her own. It was at that moment when a community-wide effort to get her back safely began.
“They all came together to assist, reported sightings on social media, texted, called us. We even had people synchronizing their barbecues in one neighborhood to lure her there,” Horn said. “We had some wonderful trackers that were helping us.”
Russel Holladay was one of those trackers. Over the last five years, Holladay has rescued more than 200 lost dogs. When heard that Midnight was lost, he knew he had to get to work.
“I would go out and set a trap out with some bait and some food,” Holladay said. “And we about had her one time, but she went in the trap but was able to get back out of the trap. She was one of the hardest dogs I’ve had to look for because she would not stay in one area.”
Then, after three and a half weeks, Midnight was found curled up in a garage at a farm in east Lawrence.
“We were pretty excited because, of course, we had put a lot of effort into trying to find her,” Chris Morrison, Midnight’s foster dad, said. “My wife Julie was at this day and night, all the time taking calls trying to correlate with other people. So, yeah, when we finally brought her in, we were overjoyed.”