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A runaway dog named Roo was rescued after spending two days in a San Francisco commuter rail tunnel
Roo, recently adopted and microchipped, was reunited with his owner after being spooked and running away
The rescue highlights the importance of microchipping pets to quickly reunite them with their families when lost
A runaway dog is safe at home after an unlikely and daunting two-day stay in a San Francisco commuter rail tunnel.
San Francisco Animal Care and Control (SFACC) shared video of the dramatic rescue on Wednesday, July 29, which shows officers retrieving the frightened pup, named Roo, from the dark Caltrain tunnel where he had hunkered down.
A dog being rescued from a tunnel and walking on train tracks with a leash and harness
Credit: Storyful (2)
“A dog was in a Caltrain tunnel for two days. The first day train operators saw him and thought he was a dead animal,” the shelter wrote on Instagram. “The second day a driver saw him move. He was so still they thought he had been hit by a train and was injured.”
Rescued dog named Roo wearing a harness and leash indoors
Credit: Storyful
As seen in the video, two SFACC officers ventured into the dark tunnel alongside Caltrain staff to reach the dog. According to Storyful reporting, officials were relieved to discover he hadn’t been struck by oncoming trains. Roo was uninjured, just terrified, and had spent two days hiding in the darkness, according to the shelter.
Once officers managed to slip a leash on him, Roo’s fear quickly gave way to joy. “He was terrified at first then was thrilled to be rescued,” SFACC wrote.
A scan revealed the pup was microchipped, which allowed the shelter to quickly solve the mystery of how he ended up on the tracks. “He was recently adopted and got spooked and ran,” the shelter explained. “His person was looking everywhere for him and was thrilled to be reunited with him.”
PEOPLE reached out to SFACC for additional comment.
Roo’s story is the latest in a string of dramatic transit-adjacent pet rescues. In April, a stray dog who wandered onto the tracks at a Brooklyn subway station was safely scooped up by NYPD officers after trains were briefly halted, per ABC News.
For pet owners, Roo’s ordeal is also a reminder of why microchipping matters: Newly adopted dogs are especially prone to bolting when startled, and a registered chip remains the fastest way for shelters to reunite lost pets with their families.
Read the original article on People