LI Dog Lost In Storm Home Safe: 'Words Cannot Express My Gratitude'

CUTCHOGUE, NY — A dog who, terrified by the thunder, slipped out of her collar and went missing in Cutchogue during Saturday's storm, has found her way back safely.

Lynn McCaffery Stevens said her family's dog Zina took off after the first clap of thunder. But a caring community rallied to help search and on Monday morning, Zina was home with her loving family.

"Zina has been found!" Stevens said. "Well, actually, she has found us. After a harrowing day of worry over her, and going to multiple sightings, Zina made her way to the second home she knows and loves — which is my parents' house."

While Stevens was out canvassing the next neighborhood over, she was sitting at their back door waiting to be let in.

"She is safe, tired and hungry," Stevens said. "She is home wrapped in one of her favorite blankets and sleeping — hopefully, happy dreams of being home and not the fear she must have felt all day yesterday and overnight."

Reflecting on the hours of worry and fear, Steven said that on Sunday, "with the enormous help of our beautiful community," there were several sightings of Zina throughout the day. Stevens and her family went to each place, sometimes several times over, continually canvassing the area.

Zina, she said, was "decisively heading east" from her family home. " I believed all along she was searching for a place she knew," she said. "She was very scared and skittish and kept running from all who were trying to get her home."

One of the first locations where she was spotted was the woods near the post office in Cutchogue. Next, she was seen near Alvah's Lane — where she lives — and County Road 48. Resident Jill Schroeder and her daughter called Stevens, and they searched the vineyard together.

"But Zina took off before I got there," she said.

At that point, Stevens thought her beloved pup had headed to her aunt's home on Depot Lane. Later on in the evening, a good Samaritan called Southold Police with a sighting at City MD, in Cutchogue.

"But the fugitive kept running!" Stevens said.

She was also seen by Frank Imbriano at his farm, but by the time her family and later, she, got there, Zina was long gone.

"Around midnight, Jim Mina and his family spotted her on Cox Lane and County Road 48. I had been there looking for her earlier, but she didn't come out of hiding. I am super impressed with the sharp eyes of the Mina family," she said.

Stevens was looking at that location early Monday morning when her father called her just before 7 a.m.

"Zina found her way to my parents' house. She was waiting at the back door to be let in," Steven said.

Now, Zina is cozy at home, being given belly rubs and love.

Stevens' heart, she added, is filled with gratitude. "I cannot thank this community enough for helping me get her home. I also have a great appreciation of how big my little community is — not only in physical locations, as viewed by the number of spots a scared pup can hide — but also by the kindness and love in their hearts."