"Spot" was an escape artist who lived at a large animal shelter. He escaped from his foster home and walked back to the shelter. Later he was adopted, and walked back to the shelter. When he was adopted again, no one heard anything from the new parents so assumed all was well. Then a week later, Spot showed up at the shelter. He was a bit thinner but mostly in good shape -- considering that his latest adoptive home was 17 miles from the shelter.
The shelter staff was concerned that the new owners (who were warned about Spot) had not called the shelter looking for him. Workers called Spot's adoptive home several times over several days -- leaving numerous messages -- no response.
They finally heard back and found out what had happened. One of the new owners was active duty military and had been injured while serving overseas. The owners left Spot in the care of family members and rushed to be by the father's side.
The family who had been entrusted to care for Spot had been looking for him and they had been checking in regularly at the local animal control facilities..They did not think that Spot would be at a facility 17 miles away. And they did not call the owners to inform them that Spot had escaped. Considering the circumstances, the caretakers did not want to burden the owners any further.
Before finding out what had occurred, the staff had begun to think that the new family didn't care about Spot, that no one was looking for him.
If you find a stay, and it seems like no one is looking, that might be true; or the owners might have a good reason why they haven't seen your lost and found ads, your flyers, etc..
For other lost and found posts, click here.
Also see Fundamental Attribution Error
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