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'Here Copper!'

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Lori Goodlett, Copper’s owner, wrings her hands as she stands next to her dog’s bedding Saturday morning behind the vacant Home Depot building as volunteers help search for Copper, who was misidentified as a coyote and released. (State Journal/Tricia Spaulding)

Copper is an 11-year-old Shiba Inu. (Submitted)

Susan French calls out for Copper, the Shiba Inu who was misidentified as a coyote by the Humane Society and set free. French looks through the tall grass and woods behind the vacant Home Depot building Saturday morning in search of the dog. (State Journal/Tricia Spaulding)

“Copper … Here Copper … Copper!” Shawn Goodlett called wishfully as he led a search party into a thicket near Home Depot.

“I want her back,” the 11-year-old said earlier about the missing Shiba Inu who’s the same age as Shawn.

“I’ve known Copper since I was born.”

About two dozen searchers gathered early Saturday morning at the abandoned Home Depot site where a Frankfort policeman left Copper. A reward for her return is now more than $1,000.

They spread out on foot, in jeeps and cars to crisscross the area from Old Lawrenceberg Road to the East-West Connector, but there were no signs of Copper.

Lori Goodlett, Copper’s owner, said she had gone to places like the nearby Kroger and spoken to managers in case Cooper sought food in the vicinity.

“Copper has never been lost, so I am not sure what she would do, but I do think she would go toward people and food. She is definitely ignorant about traffic.”

Copper has been missing since July 3 after the manager of the Frankfort Humane Society, Regina McDaniel, demanded the dog be taken from the shelter because it was a coyote.

Goodlett said she was emotionally overwhelmed by the interest in Copper, whose plight has been widely distributed in print and broadcast media, originating with Thursday’s story in The State Journal.

“I have had strangers become friends this week.”

Unexpected among the searchers was Humane Society volunteer Jodie McDonald, who was at the shelter the day Copper was turned away.

“I wasn’t in the room when the officer was told to take the dog, but I did hear the exchange. A couple of people commented how sweet Cooper seemed, but were told the coyote could be sick and that was why it was being so calm.”

McDonald said many of the staff are caring, as are the volunteers.

“Some days it is just chaotic.”

Humane Society Board President John Forbes said earlier in the week he supported McDaniel’s decision that it was a coyote and not suited for the shelter.

“If she believed it was a coyote, she had every right to have the officer remove it,” Forbes said. “It is against the law for shelters to house coyotes.”

According to Maj. Fred Deaton, the police were told a coyote is considered a nuisance animal and may be shot or returned to the wild.

Copper’s story unfolded when a Frankfort police officer responded to a Gramma Drive resident’s call of a dog inside her privacy fence with her dogs. The officer retrieved the dog and put her in a crate and drove around until the shelter opened after noon on July 3.

Shortly after the officer left the dog, the desk sergeant at the Frankfort Police Department received a call from the shelter manager asking that the officer return.

Back at the shelter, the officer was told he’d have to remove the dog because it was a coyote and against the law to shelter one with domestic animals.

When the officer refused, his superior was called by the manager and told the officer he had to take the dog.

Under normal circumstances, Animal Control Officer Mark Pardi would have handled and responded to the initial dog complaint, but Pardi was on vacation.

While Franklin County Fiscal Court maintains both an animal control officer and an assistant, neither was called – a breakdown in the system, Second District Magistrate Phillip Kring says.

“These guys normally fill in for one another when they are going to be off. I don’t know why it didn’t happen in this situation.”

Since the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife was closed that Saturday, police contacted independently-owned Wildlife Solutions about coyotes and were told of the option to dispose of or release them.

The responding officer drove to the grassy area behind Home Depot off U.S. 127 and released Copper from the crate.

That was the last time the copper-colored, 20-pound dog has been seen.

News of Copper’s release into the wild has been the subject of hundreds of media reports across the nation as outlets such as MSNBC and CNN picked up the story. From New York to Texas, reports about Copper have drawn criticism for the circumstances surrounding the shelter manager’s action.

Animal activist Trudi Johnson of Frankfort organized Saturday’s search. She announced to the group that $270 had been raised as a reward and that PETA was offering $1,000 for Copper’s safe return.

Johnson and the group discussed strategy and possible locations for the dog, including the possibility that Copper might be trying to find her way back to her Cloverdale home. Johnson held a stack of posters in her hand that were later posted around the area.

“We are all here because we can not believe this happened in our town. And from the calls and e-mails I have received, we never want to see it happen again,” Johnson said.

At one point Goodlett hoped Copper may have stayed in the vicinity and she placed her bed and a water bucket near the spot where Copper was released. It remained there Saturday.

“I have driven by here early in the mornings and late in the evenings hoping she might return,” Goodlett said.

Goodlett and her family also question how Copper was released from her home since the outside of the house is surrounded by a chain-link fence with clips that must be released to open the gates.

“She’d be more likely to be afraid to leave,” said Dave Turley, Goodlett’s father who accompanied her.

“I have no idea why anyone would want to let her out, but it seems strange to me she was in a fenced-in yard and she was found in a fenced-in yard,” Turley said.

Troy VanMeter and his wife, Holly, were among the searchers. Holly VanMeter passed a petition calling for more accountability from the Humane Society.

Ashley and Larry Estep said they came because they would be devastated if this had been one of their animals.
“We have a houseful of adopted strays,” Larry Estep said.

Joe and Michelle Vangilder were also among the searchers Saturday.  They had driven over from Jeffersonville, Ind., after seeing a report on a Louisville television station Friday night.

“We came because we could not believe a Humane Society would call this dog a coyote.”

The Vangilders own a non-profit pet pantry. Prior to moving to Indiana, they owned a pet rescue in Virginia for seven years.

“The standards for shelters are much higher in Virginia,” Michelle Vangilder said.

“Air flow returns in kennels are checked regularly as are the condition of cages. The record keeping is very strict. I don’t see the state veterinarian as active in Kentucky as I have in other states.”

Johnson will address the City Commission at its meeting 5 p.m. Monday.

“My hope is that they will be receptive to demanding more accountability from the shelter employees. At present they provide funding, but have no way assuring the community is being served.”

Johnson also has a meeting scheduled Thursday with Judge-Executive Ted Collins.

“It is still very hard for me to believe McDaniel thought Copper was a coyote. That policeman could never have handled him if it had been a coyote,” Johnson said. “This is just tragic.”

Searchers who spent several hours in the area turned up no trace of the lost dog, and Copper’s bed lay undisturbed.