On July 3, 2021 Fort Bragg resident Michael Penuel told his daughter to “stay strong” when her dog Shadow went missing. Shadow got out of the yard through a hole in a fence at the apartment complex where the Penuel family resides. An eyewitness told Penuel Shadow had been hit by a vehicle and ran west from the location in front of Fort Bragg’s Jenny’s Giant Burgers.
For eleven days volunteers walked the streets and walked through vacant fields looking for Shadow. Nothing was found. Not a trace.
Peneul said he had heard from someone that Shadow had been spotted behind the Best Western Motel so he went to go check the area after he got off work. He spoke with staff, gave them a flyer, and miraculously two hours later the staff contacted him and said simply, “We have Shadow.” They told him that Shadow had been living in the woods behind the motel.
Shadow, despite being a forest-dweller for eleven days, “looked wonderful,” Penuel said. “He wasn’t emaciated at all. A little dirty, that’s it,” Penuel added.
Penuel’s words to his daughter, “stay strong” will always have a special meaning to a very special girl and dog.
