NEW LEASH ON LIFE!
Dog stolen in B’klyn break-in is saved from near death by Bronx heroes, reunited with family
IT WAS a real mission im-pawsible: Find a beloved Brooklyn pooch ripped from its home by heartless burglars.
Dog owners Chris Mayne and Kaori Goto despaired of ever seeing their precious Zoey again — until a big-hearted Bronx pooch lover called with amazing news: she’d found their dog.
Mayne and his wife, Goto, cried tears of joy when they first laid eyes on Zoey — a 12-yearold terrier mix — after six days of fruitless searching.
“We’re ecstatic,” Mayne, 44, told the Daily News. “This is one of the best days ever. Words fail me.”
A canine crook broke into Mayne’s Park Slope home last Saturday while the couple were in Georgia, making off with Zoey and a fancy folding bike.
Zoey’s tale would likely have ended in tragedy were it not for Selina Parham, a Mott Haven mother with a boundless passion for rescuing dogs.
Parham was relaxing outside her home Saturday night when several neighborhood boys rushed over to report that some guys were planning to put a dog down.
Parham, who said she’s rescued more than 70 pit bulls, didn’t hesitate. Go get that dog, she told them, and bring it here. The boys sprinted off. “I don’t know where they went, but within 20 minutes, they were back with the dog,” Parham recalled.
The mutt was a beauty, white and brown with a sweet face and fluffy fur. But it was quaking in fear. Parham could tell right away that it was older and welltrained.
“I was quite sure that she had a family out there that loves her,” Parham said.
Parham opened up her home to the new dog, but some problems presented themselves immediately.
Zoey kept attacking Parham’s pooch, a 3-year-old American bully named Mister Biggz. Thankfully for Zoey, Biggz is as calm as they come despite his fearsome build.
Parham took the two dogs for a long walk around the neighborhood. Her 15-year-old daughter, Lauren McKelvin, sat with Zoey for hours petting and cuddling her. Zoey gradually came around to Biggz, but she wouldn’t eat.
In the meantime, Selena posted photos of Zoey on her Facebook page with an urgent plea.
“Somebody has to know who she belongs to,” wrote Parham, who works for the Parks Department. “If you know somebody that’s missing her feel free to inbox me.”
Parham planned to bring the dog to a local ASPCA on Friday, her first day off since finding Zoey, to see if the pooch had been implanted with a microchip.
But while she was still in bed, Parham’s Facebook page lit up with a post about the Daily News story on the dog stolen from a home in Brooklyn.
Elated, Parham swung open her bedroom door and yelled out, “Zoey!”
“She jumped up, wagging her tail,” Parham said. “She was like, ‘How do you know my name?’”
Parham was certain she had the right dog. She called Mayne to deliver the news.
Mayne and his wife drove straight to Parham’s apartment. Waiting there on the stoop was Parham, her daughter Lauren, Mister Biggz and the couple’s sweet little pooch Zoey.
“It was such a happy moment,” Mayne said.
“We hugged, they cried, it was beautiful,” Parham said. “It made me feel good just to know they didn’t have to miss out on their family pet because someone was being cruel.”
Mayne and his wife are planning to organize a party celebrating Zoey’s return. It will also be a celebration of Parham and her daughter.
“They’re the heroes of this story,” Mayne said.