Watch as Mattapoisett Residents Rally to Rescue Lost Dog

“As soon as I saw her, I knew she would be coming home with me,” Mattapoisett’s Molly Urquhart said. That was her immediate reaction when meeting her rescue dog, Tessa.

“Tessa has had a tough upbringing; she was neglected and abused, was a street dog for a long time, and bounced from foster home to foster home,” Urquhart said. “She is very anxious and shy and gets spooked easily.”

Her timid nature caused her to be spooked on the morning of Tuesday, February 18, running away and pulling her leash along with her. That’s when the search began.

Reaching Out For Help

“I notified animal control right away,” Urquhart said. “I contacted Hawkeye Aerial Systems, a drone company who searches for lost pets, but It was too windy for the drone to fly that night. I don’t have social media, so I asked a couple people to post on Facebook about Tessa being missing, just hoping to get a couple extra eyes out there.”

The community then began to rally to come to Tessa’s aide.

“It was actually my day off and I had gotten a call from my supervisor to go bring a dog that was at the police station to its owner and when I got there, one of the police officers said ‘oh there’s two lost dogs,'” said Thomas Gomes, Deputy Natural Resource Officer for the Town of Mattapoisett.

Getting a call about a lost dog is “pretty routine stuff” according to Gomes.

“I asked where the second dog was and there was a bunch of people for Tessa and she was running around and no one could seem to catch her,” he said.

“As soon as I get a dog or a lost dog I immediately go to (Facebook group) Mattapoisett Life, it’s the towns little gathering social media spot,” Gomes said. “Mattapoisett absolutely loves their animals and they’re enthusiastic to help any time.”

The Facebook group was following Tessa’s adventure every step of the way.

Search Efforts for the Missing Dog Continue

“I was searching the streets of Mattapoisett until 2:30 a.m. the first night she was gone, but I wasn’t alone,” Urquhart said. “The Mattapoisett police were out in droves, shining their spotlights into big fields, and circling neighborhoods where she had been spotted.”

The search continued with those on foot and in the skies. Sam Aromin, owner of Hawkeye Aerial Systems, recalled hearing from Molly.

“She was very distraught when Tessa ran away,” he said.

Aromin grabbed his gear and quickly got to work.

“This is what I do,” he said. “December 10, 2022 was the day I got my thermal drone. I went to test it out and got my first dog and since then we’re nearing 150 dogs just with the drone finding the dog.”

He was hoping he could add another pup to that list.

“What the drone detects is heat signatures. We’re able to track our targets on the ground quicker than on eye level,” Aromin said.

The Search Goes On

The search went on for days. Gomes, Aromin, Urquhart and many more continued to report sightings of Tessa, while Kera Burba shared updates on Facebook.

Tessa had only been with her family a short time; she was still getting acclimated to the area, and she was not microchipped or had any tracking device attached to her – and the winter weather was harsh.

“On Friday night, it had been four nights that she had been missing and it was brutally cold outside. But I wasn’t giving up and neither was the community,” Urquhart said. “One resident brought cooked hamburgers to leave outside in an attempt to lure Tessa in. Hundreds of residents continued searching the streets, police scouted the woods on ATV’s, and one resident offered to search the wooded area on horseback.”

Hope on the Horizon

Saturday arrived, and it was then five days into the search.

“I remember getting my gear ready that morning. It was around 6:30 and my hands were cold immediately,” Aromin said. “I remember thinking ‘I hope Tessa’s somewhere safe and warm.'”

A neighbor spotted Tessa around 7 a.m. Aromin got the drones into the air and began relaying directions to Urquhart, who finally spotted her girl.

“I called out Tessa’s name, we made eye contact and she immediately came towards me,” Urquhart said. “She had been sprayed by a skunk, the sweater she was wearing was torn, tattered and filthy, and it was clear she hadn’t eaten in days.”

“I gave her the biggest hug and she melted right into me,” she said.

Tessa Reunites With Her Owner

The way the community of Mattapoisett came together is nothing short of inspiring, something Urquhart truly appreciates.

“There are no words for how grateful I am for the Mattapoisett community and everyone who stepped up to help bring Tessa home,” she said. “The morning Tessa came home, she had a warm bath and devoured an entire rotisserie chicken, and then another one. My kids and I are beyond blessed that she is back home with us.”

“Tessa is a fighter, she’s a survivor, she’s my girl,” Urquhart said.

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