Missing New Mexico Dog Shows Up In Missouri 9 Months Later

LOS LUNAS, NM — Koda, a dog that had been missing from his Los Lunas, New Mexico, home for nine months showed up half-frozen, covered in ice and starving at Jamie Bergman’s home in Kansas City, Missouri, on Christmas Day.

How the 3-year-old husky got to that house at that precise moment goes beyond the fact that he was more than 800 miles and four states away. He went on the lam last March, when he jumped out of the bed of the Chavarria family’s pickup as they were running errands. They had given up hope of a reunion.

But Koda had a microchip, and a veterinarian traced him back to the Chavarria family.

When she received the call from Bergman two days after Christmas, Kristi Chavarria told KOAT-TV that she thought it was a joke “because Koda’s been gone so long.”

It was no joke, but Bergman wonders if it was more than happenstance that Koda showed up at the home she shares with her boyfriend and another husky, Aspen. He had let Aspen out to do her business and when he went outside to let her back in, Koda was there.

They lost another husky, Skylar, who died in early December. Was she working from beyond, Bergman wonders.

“The fact that we had a husky, Skylar, pass away the first of December, it makes me think, 'Did she have something to do with it? Did she send this dog to us because he needed help?' How did he jump the fence in my yard? How? It's so crazy,” Bergman told WDAF.

Whatever the explanation for Koda’s sudden appearance at their home, he is providing comfort to Bergman and her boyfriend.

“He came at the right time, and it all just kind of worked out because he's really helping us heal from the loss of our other dog," Bergman told WDAF. "It`s nice to be able to have him here throughout the holidays when it's always rough. And we have this other dog that we can focus on and love, and he`s giving us back a little bit also. It's really cool."

Koda will be returning to the Chavarria family later this month.

Bergman established a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of vet bills, the transport fee back to New Mexico and other expenses, like a leash and harness. Koda’s return is being coordinated by a friend of the Chavarria family who is an animal rescue expert. Another animal lover from Texas will be driving to Missouri later this month to pick up Koda and return him to New Mexico.

The reunion reinforces the importance of microchipping pets.

“If he wasn’t microchipped, we would never see him again,” Chavarria told KOAT.

Photo via GoFundMe