Family reunited with dog lost in crash on I-75 near Corbin

Above, Bear gives Chris Dalton a paw during their reunion at Wallen’s Towing and Recovery in Corbin Tuesday. The family lost the dog in an accident on I-75 several weeks ago while moving from Florida to Ohio.

Three weeks of search and rescue efforts on the part of local residents have finally paid off as "Bear" the black lab was reunited with his family Tuesday afternoon.

It is just a whirlwind of emotions," Shauna Dalton said when asked what she was thinking after the reunion at Wallen’s Towing. It is a miracle. I didn’t think I would see him again."

The dog ran off after the Shauna and Chris Dalton’s SUV overturned on Interstate 75 near exit 25 on April 8. He has been on the run in the southern part of Corbin since. The Dalton family, which includes Dylan and baby Levi, was in the process of moving from Florida to Ohio, spent the night in Corbin while trying to find him. However, they were forced to continue on to Ohio and trust that Bear would be caught.

He was caught in a cage trap on McKinley Street Monday morning.

"We checked the trap about 6:30 that morning and he wasn’t in there," said Daniel Wallen, who has led the effort to catch him along with Lavina Johnson. "We got the call about 8 a.m. that he was in there."

Bear was caught in the trap that had been set out on Tina Kersey’s property.

Kersey said she had seen Bear running through the neighborhood for several days, but didn’t know he was wanted until her niece contacted her and she looked on the Facebook page dedicated to finding Bear.

The trap was relocated to her property Saturday.

"I didn’t see him Sunday so I was afraid he had wandered off," Kersey said. "The next morning, he was in there. I was thrilled."
Bear was brought to Wallen’s Towing, lying on his dog bed that the Dalton family had left for him, where he was given several bowls of food. He had several large ticks on his face and body and had lost a considerable amount of weight, but was otherwise okay. In addition, he was still dragging the blue leach that was attached the night of the accident.

A trip to the vet also revealed a bruise to his left rear left. The good news is that the leg is not broken.

Wallen put out the word that he and the volunteers were search for "Bear." He was seen regularly, initially down on Falls Hwy. south of Eldorado’s and later at Baptist Regional Medical Center, Grace on the Hill Church and Forest Hills.

"He kept moving, going back and forth across the interstate at least six times," Wallen said. We chased him for two weeks on Falls Hwy."

The cage traps set out for him were moved as more sightings came in.

"There isn’t anyone in town that didn’t call saying they had seen him," Wallen said, noting he had received at least 300 phone calls throughout the ordeal.

Lavina Johnson said it was the phone calls that kept up her hopes.

"There was a four-day period when nobody called," Johnson said. "I got worried. I was afraid he might have been hit by a car."
One person even called the Holliday Inn, saying that a car had hit Bear.

When Bear met with his family, he had been bathed and was eating under Johnson’s car. He was also sporting a new collar a leash that said, "Lucky Dog."

Johnson said she is happy Bear is going home to his family, but they had better be good to him.

"I’m going to put my phone number in his collar," Johnson said. "If they are not good to him, he can call me."