Missing California Show Dog Spotted in New York Neighborhood
March 22 (Bloomberg) -- Vivi, the prize-winning dog who escaped at John F. Kennedy International Airport last month, has been spotted in New York's Flushing neighborhood during the past week, drawing dozens of volunteers and a $5,000 reward.
Co-owner Jil Walton said the whippet has been seen seven or eight times in the past week in Queens about 10 miles (16 kilometers) north of JFK. The latest sighting was today at 3:45 a.m. New York time, when a man spotted Vivi in Flushing Cemetery. He took his Doberman into the cemetery and the two dogs touched noses, said search volunteer Rosa Chile.
More than 100 volunteers have searched for three-year-old Vivi -- full name Champion Bohem C'est La Vie -- since she fled Feb. 15, patrolling neighborhoods, posting fliers and making phone calls, said Bonnie Folz, head of the rescue effort. Vivi escaped before being loaded onto a Delta flight bound for Los Angeles, two days after winning an award at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.
``There's been an incredible army of volunteers that have been helping me with this,'' Walton, 39, said in a phone interview from Flushing Cemetery, where she and her fiancé were setting traps for Vivi. ``To imagine an award-winning whippet from California loose in New York -- people feel for her.''
A stakeout is planned for 6 a.m. March 25 in which volunteers will sit and watch for Vivi, instead of just searching an area after she has been seen, said Folz. Professional trackers with scent dogs have scouted the area to verify the sightings. Walton is offering a $5,000 reward for the dog, the maximum her credit card could handle, she said.
Vivi is a purebred whippet, which resembles a miniature greyhound. She is mostly white with dark brown stripes called brindle, said Walton, a horse trainer from Claremont, California. Vivi has brown ears and a dark head, with what looks like a white stripe down her face, said Walton. The dog can run more than 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour).
The dog was sighted the day after her disappearance near the airport, then there was no news for weeks, Walton said. There's been at least one Vivi sighting a day in the past week, said Folz, and searchers expressed confidence Vivi will be found soon.
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