Well that’s a relief! When the Gothamist broke the story about a pitbull getting tossed from the BQE, the news quickly spread like wildfire. From the NY Post to our very own Greenpointers, we were all appalled at what we heard. But thanks to the power of media, the dog’s owner and Greenpoint resident, Oliver Rivera, was finally reunited with his pitbull Wookie (a.k.a Meeker) after he escaped from his leash on Tuesday at the corner of Bayard Street and Graham Avenue.
“He gave me this one last look and then just bolted,” Rivera told WABC News on Thursday. “I’m like, ‘maybe he was at the corner,’ I’m hoping, and then no signs of him anywhere.”
Rivera said he filed a lost dog report with Animal Care & Control NYC around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, roughly 18 hours after Wookie was injured.
While the incident is being investigated by police, one witness in a taxi–Sara Hart, claims to have seen Wookie running alongside the highway.
“I was actually in a taxi on the BQE Tuesday evening when the taxi driver pointed out a dog running full tilt along the side of the expressway. Without warning he leaped over the concrete partition to the 30-foot-drop. We were shocked—and certain he was dead on impact,” she told reporters.
Meanwhile, another witness, Gregory Kost, offered up a different opinion to the Daily News. “There is no way this dog jumped from the BQE. A dog doesn’t jump upside down.”
While we might never fully know what happened that day, we do know this: Wookie is a survivor. Before he returns home, he’ll have to heal first. The fall left him with an injured leg, some broken teeth, and a potentially collapsed lung that might need surgery. Luckily for Rivera, the folks at the non-profit group Positive Tails are doing good by their word and picking up Wookies tab.
“I thought he was a goner, “Rivera told ABC News. “I thought I would have to for a month keep looking at the shelters. I swear I am the luckiest human being alive right now.”
Gotta love happy endings.