Social Media Helps Relocate Lost Dog In Superior

SUPERIOR, Wis. — Eight days is how long Anika the dog was missing from her family. But, a sad story turned into a celebration, when Anika was spotted looking through the windows of a medical center in Superior.

“I mean 8 days, it was so long for us but I feel like it would have been so much longer if it wasn’t for everybody and social media and I put her face everywhere I could and everybody was great,” Holly McClellan, Anika’s Owner said.

After slipping away from her family at the Superior Animal Hospital on March 22nd, Anika was gone for over a week. Owner Holly, took to social media and the community of Superior to get the word out.

“Strangers were messaging me every day, ‘do you have an update?’ Everybody was so concerned and so invested in her, and it was just amazing,” McClellan said.

Anika was spotted around different areas of Superior throughout the week, with people contacting the McClellan’s along the way.

One night, the husky was spotted by the refinery, and when Holly’s husband Ben showed up to look, he wasn’t able to find their dog, but found overwhelming support from the community.

“It was just strangers and when he got there that night by the refinery to look, by the time he got there was a line of cars and just people out in the woods like all these strangers just out looking for someone else’s dog so that was amazing,” Holly added.

On Wednesday, March 30th, staff at St. Luke’s Mariner Medical Clinic in Superior called Holly and reported Anika looking through their windows, howling.

From there, staff was able to connect the family once again.

“Our motto is we put patients above all else and so not only do we do that for our patients but we drool out for our patients families, extended families, pets,” Susan Backlund, the Clinic Manager, and one of the staff members who helped reunite the family, said.

Anika only had worn leg muscles and pads of her feet, also lost 7 pounds but for the love of dogs, and because of social media, Anika and her family are home safely.

“We have our own dogs too and we think of them as part of our own family so just really nice that the community all came together and everybody helped and we would hope that the same for us as well,” Backlund said.

Anika now wears a harness and a tracking collar according to the family.