24-06-2025
Family didn't stop looking for dog missing since FL hurricane. Now, ‘happy tears'
A dog went missing during a Florida hurricane — and his family didn't stop searching for him.
Now, eight months after the storm, Ghost the dog finally has been reunited with his owners.
'When Ghost saw his real family he was overjoyed,' Christina Sutherin, chief lifesaving officer for the Halifax Humane Society, told McClatchy News in a June 23 email. 'He was whining and barking excitedly while doing zoomies and wagging his entire body greeting them! Happy tears were shed.'
The Daytona Beach shelter celebrated the long-awaited reunion after Ghost experienced a rough patch. His owners said he and their other dogs were stolen during Hurricane Milton, which slammed Florida in October.
'They filed a report with the police department and began the search for their dogs immediately,' Sutherin wrote. 'Their home was damaged, and they eventually moved out (of) state but never stopped looking.'
Over time, the pup 'bounced from house to house and was even in and out of animal shelters.' He landed at the humane society when he was with someone who was arrested in an unrelated case, the shelter wrote in its email and a Facebook post.
At the shelter, Ghost became known as a 'goofy, playful, treat loving' dog. One day, his luck took a turn for the better when his owners saw a post about him on the humane society's website.
Sutherin said the family shared pictures of their lost pet, and 'there was no denying that Ghost was the same dog in the photos, right down to the spots on his nose!' After getting confirmation, the family drove 12 hours from West Virginia for the emotional reunion.
'Our team left the shelter Saturday feeling amazing knowing Ghost was sleeping in a hotel bed with his family that night,' Sutherin wrote. 'We were all so excited and teary eyed.'
Before the family kicked off its next chapter together, the shelter said Ghost received a microchip. The devices store owners' contact information in case their pets become lost.
Daytona Beach lies along the Atlantic coast, a roughly 55-mile drive northeast from Orlando.
