Community Corner
Dog, Zoey, Missing From Manorville: 'Our Kids Are Heartbroken'
"So many dogs need to be adopted but Zoey is not one of them! We're really losing hope. " A reward is offered for Zoey's return.
MANORVILLE, NY — A Manorville family is heartbroken after their dog, Zoey, went missing more than a week ago.
"Zoey is still missing. Please, if you have her, do the right thing and return Zoey. Our family misses her. Our kids are heartbroken. So many dogs need to be adopted but Zoey is not one of them! No questions asked if she is returned; I will provide a reward," said Rogerio Valentim on Facebook.
Rogerio's wife Tania said Zoey, a 6-year-old pit bull who is small, weighing just 35 lbs., went missing on Oct. 12. She is wearing a distinctive teal-colored collar with pink flamingos.
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Her leash accidentally got clipped to her tag ring instead of her collar ring and her family suspects that, while outside on a cable, she saw a deer or turkey and pulled free.
So far, there has only been one sighting, Tania said; Zoey was last seen running on Moriches-Middle Island Road near Dayton Avenue.
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Zoey, she said, is very friendly. She first became a part of the family six years ago when she and her husband rescued her at Christmastime as a gift for their son, Cristiano, now 12. "I was pregnant; she was my son's Christmas gift so he wouldn't be jealous of his baby sister," Tania said.
Now both children, Cristiano and Alessandra, 6, are "very heartbroken" over their missing dog, Tania said.
"Everyone is just heartbroken, especially since there have been no sightings," Tania said. The family has put up flyers and has trappers out searching, but the recent storms and cold have been daunting.
"We're really losing hope," Tania said. The fear, she said, is that someone has taken Zoey. "I can't see her just running in the woods without trying to get attention from somebody," she said.
The family has been searching shelters. "When you walk the shelter, your hopes are so high, and then, when you get to the end, it's so heartbreaking when she isn't there," Tania said. "I've had no luck."
She, too, said a reward is offered, no questions asked.
If you see Zoey, call 631-741-1818.
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