Just when we thought the tales of Scrim were over, the scruffy-looking terrier gnawed open a window and jumped out, surviving a 13-foot fall from a second-story home.
Landing on pavement, Scrim escaped Michelle Cheramie’s yard, stealthily squeezing through her fence and bolting down the street.
It’s been a months-long saga of sightings and searching, and now the chase is back on. Again.
Here’s an overview of Scrim’s unbelievable journey over the past year.
Scrim’s early days in Houma
In Houma, Scrim lived at a house that allowed him to have free range of the neighborhood. But according to Cheramie, his owners did not treat him well when he was inside, so he often ran away.
One day, the Terrebonne Parish animal shelter picked him up from his former front yard, thinking he was a stray.
Cheramie later saved him from a northshore dog pound, where he was close to euthanasia.
On Nov. 8, 2023, Scrim arrived at Zeus’ Rescue from Houma. Cheramie, who owns Zeus’ Rescue, said he was one of the most timid dogs she had ever seen in her decades-long career.
Getting acclimated
When he arrived at Zeus’, Cheramie described him as catatonic. “He would just cower in the back of his kennel and kind of tremble,” she said.
For a couple of months, Zeus’ team worked with him to reacclimate to humans and reintroduce him to an indoor environment.
Once the employees felt they had rehabilitated him as much as possible in the shelter, they found him a foster home.
On Feb. 22, he moved into his temporary home. After several months, he found a forever home and moved in at the end of April.
The chase begins
Unfortunately for Scrim, his time inside did not last long.
“The [adopter] had a fenced-in yard which works for 95% of the pet population,” Cheramie said.
But Scrim is in the 5%. On the first night at his new home, Scrim became the fugitive he is known as today.
“[His owner] described him running around in circles and popped his leash,” Cheramie said. “And then he found, just like he did with me, the one spot underneath the fence and got out.”
Months passed as Scrim continued to dodge a seven-person rescue team that made routine tours around the city, following any leads they received.
Cheramie tried to lure the terrier into a cage with Popeyes fried chicken and potent beef tripe, but he was uninterested.
Even a professional stray dog catcher from Texas tried to zap him with a tranquilizer dart, but he managed to shake it off.
Scrim is captured, but wounded
But finally, one day in October, the escape artist was bested. He was cornered in a fenced field used as a parking lot, and successfully zapped by a tranquilizer dart.
His days on the streets were over, but it was abundantly clear he had been battered and bruised while on the run.
Scrim went to the Metairie Small Animal Hospital where an X-ray revealed he had been shot. Twice.
He lost several teeth and broke others. A chunk of his ear was missing. He was down one toenail. And he had abrasions on his sides and on his tail.
For a few weeks after his capture, Scrim spent time resting at home in Mid-City. And when his family went out of town, Cheramie offered to watch him.
The escape artist breaks lose for the second time
When Cheramie left home to pick up a doggie stroller for Scrim, he chewed a six by six and a half inch hole through her window screen.
Scrim, Mid-City’s legendary runaway dog, is on the lam once again after chewing through the window screen and jumping 13 feet from a second-floor window to freedom Friday morning.
“I was gone less than an hour and when I walked back, my neighbor was standing outside of my gate and said ‘Your dog just jumped off the roof,'” Cheramie said.
Cheramie immediately called the recovery team and began tracking Scrim, using his GPS collar. Unfortunately, its battery drains very quickly, she said, so the crew was only able to track him for about two and a half hours before it died.
According to Cheramie, Scrim was last seen at the intersection of Julia St. and Carondelet St. at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
For those worried about tracking Scrim in the future, she said she already has an Airtag waiting for him upon his return.
Reporter Doug MacCash contributed to this report.
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