SOUTH CENTRE TWP. - August 25, 2004
A helicopter, airplane and search party have all been used to look for a dog that ran off after a crash on Interstate 80 here last month. The rust-colored vizsla, or Hungarian pointer, got loose from its Allentown-area family Aug. 25 when their Chevrolet Tahoe was totaled between the Lime Ridge and Lightstreet exits.
The cruise control on the vehicle stuck about 5:10 p.m. . Hitting the brakes caused it to spin and hit a ditch and embankment, said driver Tibor Horvath, 53, of Pipersville, about 15 miles south of Allentown.
The two dogs inside were probably thrown from the vehicle; he said. Horvath, his wife, Lora, and a family friend were not hurt in the crash. They managed to recover one dog. But Beka, pronounced Bakeah, took off west down the median, Horvath said. It had a Penn State collar with a leash attached. Horvath said they chased the dog, and a state trooper drove him around to look for it. It was all to no avail.
The next day, Horvath rented a plane at the Danville airport to look for Beka. But the plane traveled too fast to see much. So Horvath hired a crop-dusting helicopter to search the area, but again could not spot the family pet, he said. Both pilots charged Horvath for only the fuel, he said.
The Animal Resource Center then got word about the missing dog and sent out a search party. About nine people scoured the area last Saturday, but they could not find Beka. Other members searched back roads on their own throughout the week, but there's been no sign of the dog, said Jo Wright, a volunteer for the planned nokill shelter.
Horvath said he plans to visit the area again this weekend for one last attempt at locating his beloved pet.
Horvath believes someone may have picked up the dog. Traffic on I-80 was stopped several times that day for Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Bloomsburg, so someone could have easily let the dog into a vehicle, he said. College students were also returning to Bloomsburg University, so it's possible Beka became a house mascot, he said.
"I just hope he shows up," Horvath said. "If not, I hope he's with a good family."
Horvath also placed newspaper ads offering a $500 reward. He figures he's
spent $600 to $700 searching for Beka. He knows the dog could be dead, but no
body has been found. "I don't want to think about that," he said.
If you see the dog, you can call Horvath at (215) 327-8743.
The collar Beka was wearing did not have identifying tags. But the dog does have an embedded microchip with all the pertinent information, and a license number tattooed on the inside of a rear leg, he said. Some veterinary offices and SPCA shelters can scan the chip or look up the license number to find the owners, he said. But many people may not realize that, said volunteer Wright.
Horvath praised local folks for being so helpful and taking the time to look for the 3-year-old dog he's raised since birth. "The community has just been wonderful," he said. "Everyone has done so much. We've been beside ourselves with the positive reaction we've had." Horvath said they were on their way to Michigan to visit his daughter when the crash occurred.
Wright said the Horvaths were obviously devastated by their missing pet and members just wanted to help. While searching for Beka, shelter volunteers learned of another stray dog in the area. They planned to look for it this weekend.
LIGHTSTREET - Sep 7, 2004
A dog lost for 12 days after an interstate crash was found early Monday morning by a fisherman who initially thought the rust-colored Hungarian pointer was a fox.
By Monday evening, Beka, dehydrated and "skinny as a rail," was resting at
home with his family in Pipersville, south of Allentown, said owner Tibor
Horvath. Horvath's voice at times cracked as he talked about finding
his dog.
"It was like losing a family member," he said.
Beka had run away from Horvath's Chevrolet Tahoe after it crashed on Interstate 80 between the Lime Ridge and Lightstreet exits on Aug. 25. Searches in a rented plane and helicopter shortly after the crash turned up no traces of the pet.
Horvath and his 24-year-old son, Justin, had come to the area Saturday looking for Beka. They concentrated their search on Sawmill Road, but hadn't seen anything.
After an article about the lost dog was printed in the paper Sunday, Horvath said he received a number of tips about where the pet might have been. He went to Berwick following one lead Sunday. On Monday morning, he had taken a trip to Orangeville on another. But neither panned out.
Then Floyd Savage, 78, of West Fourth Street, Bloomsburg, decided to go fishing Monday morning at his usual fishing hole, Dillon's Pond. The pond is located off Sawmill Road opposite the PPL offices, right next to Interstate 80. The site is about seven-tenths of a mile from the Lightstreet exit.
As Savage was fixing his hook on his line around 7:30 a.m., he said he saw a rustling in the field of 6-foot-high goldenrod on the other side of the deer fence that separates the pond from I-80. Then he saw something red. "I thought it was a fox or maybe a deer," Savage said. So he went fishing for a while, catching three bass and two blue gill and throwing them back.
When he was done, he came back up to his car and saw the animal again, Savage said. As he got closer, he saw it was a dog. He went over to the fence to see if he could let it underneath, but Savage said it started growling at him. So he left it alone and went home.
When Savage was telling his daughter, Beverly Hunsinger, about the animal, she said she thought right away about the article she had read in the paper on Sunday. "I told him, `I bet it was that dog,"' she said. So she called an Animal Resource Center volunteer she knew, and also state dog warden Jim Dent.
A volunteer from the animal center then contacted Horvath, who hurried down to the pond. When they arrived around 10:30 a.m., Horvath said his son, Justin, went about 50 yards east from where Savage had seen the dog and started calling Beka's name. Within four minutes, he lifted the fence and yelled, "l found him!", Hunsinger said.
Horvath had trouble talking about the moment he found the dog when reached
later in the day. "I get all choked up."
The dog was less than a mile and a half from where his Tahoe had spun out,
Horvath said.
Beka had beaten down path: in the tall weeds and "made himself a nest," Horvath said. It appeared he had been able to get a little water from puddle, said the pet's owner. The weeds were so tall, there was no way the dog could have been seen from the air, Savage said.
Horvath said he's been giving the dog a lot of water to get him rehydrated. He gave the dog a can of food right after he was found, and was slowly feeding him bland food like turkey and rice.
Beka was a strong, healthy dog before the accident, Horvath said. It may take a while to get the dog back in shape, he said. In the meantime, Horvath said he wanted to thank Columbia County for the support it gave to his family. By Sunday afternoon in Berwick, people were already saying to him, "Oh, you're that family that lost the dog," Horvath said. "Everyone was so helpful."
Horvath said he planned to give out two $500 rewards, one to Savage and one to Gina Geiser of Berwick, who called Monday morning to say she thought she had seen the dog near the Lightstreet exit Sunday around noon.
He also wanted to thank the Animal Resource Center for putting together a search party for Beka. He said he was also going to send the planned no-kill animal shelter a donation.
Peter Kendron covers the Town of Bloomsburg and Bloomsburg University. Call him at 387-1234, ext. 1312, or e- mail him at kendron@pressenterprise.net.
Special to Press Enterprise/Justin Horvath
TIBOR HORVATH, kneeling at left, holds Beka, his Hungarian pointer, after the dog was found Monday. Around him are volunteers with the Animal Resource Center who helped in the search.
This photo was taken with a cellular
telephone.
