Hilton Head followed a runaway German shepherd’s every move for 8 weeks. Here’s his story
.jpg "Bruno, a runaway white German shepherd, was captured in Leamington on Hilton Head Island on June 17, 2021.")
The white German shepherd was first seen sniffing around Palmetto Dunes in April.
Then he was spotted racing past Shelter Cove. He later dropped by the Long Cove Club in early May, running along U.S. 278.
Hundreds of Hilton Head Island residents took to Nextdoor and Facebook: Whose dog is this? And what is he up to?
The dog’s name is Bruno. He was new to the island and scared.
A young woman on Hilton Head had bought Bruno in Georgia after she noticed an online ad about him in mid-April, said Tallulah McGee, director of Beaufort County Animal Services.
Bruno escaped from the woman almost immediately, though, once he reached Hilton Head.
So began an eight-week mission to capture Bruno and make sure he was safe.
Residents flooded social media with sightings of the dog, who had a knack for evading humans and quietly navigating the island, sometimes sneaking around late at night.
“I think he captured the hearts of a lot of people,” said Joanne Hammer, founder of the “Lost Paws of the Lowcountry” Facebook group that helps people track lost pets.
Residents worried that a car would hit him. Or an alligator would eat him. How would he get across U.S. 278 safely?
‘Trapping a dog, people think that’s so easy‘
Bruno was fast. He didn’t stick around long after being spotted.
He spent some time exploring the Robert Trent Jones golf course in Palmetto Dunes. He meandered closer to Sea Pines Circle for a bit.
Eventually, though, he settled in Leamington. Neighbors set food out for Bruno. People donated game cameras to Animal Services and watched the videos, trying to figure out where Bruno would go next.
“He did start to disappear,” McGee said. “He’d only come out at dark.
“Trapping a dog, people think that’s so easy …”
Hammer, who lives on Hilton Head’s north end, created a special Facebook group for Bruno updates because “Lost Paws of the Lowcountry” was inundated with comments about the white German shepherd.
“The other dogs who were lost weren’t getting the attention they needed,” Hammer said.
Normally, she said, runaway dogs on Hilton Head are reunited with their owners within a few days.
But Bruno was different. There was an ample supply of food, McGee said, and virtually no fencing in the area. He could move about freely in his new world, wandering under live oaks and around golf courses.
He reminded McGee of Finn, a Labrador and border collie mix who ran away in Bluffton in 2015. Finn had a weeks-long adventure and was eventually discovered on Spring Island.
‘It was just a really joyous moment’
McGee decided to try a new strategy. Bruno was uninterested in dog traps. And a dart gun hadn’t worked because he was too fast.
So Aaron Eaton, an Animal Services officer, built a hog trap in Leamington that was bigger and had “saloon doors.”
“I can’t even say how many man-hours we put into tracking him,” Eaton said.
Bruno went into the trap early last Thursday and was caught about 4 a.m.
“It was just a really joyous moment,” Hammer said.
“We are So blessed to have such a caring loving community who all wanted Bruno Safe!” she wrote in a Facebook post.
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What’s next?
Bruno is now at Animal Services. McGee thinks a Leamington family will adopt him.
He’s doing fine, she said. He’s a bit skittish but is making friends with the county workers.
“There were a lot of pieces of the puzzle,” McGee said.
She and Hammer are now focusing on Luna, another white German shepherd that has recently been seen roaming around Sea Pines.
They want to make sure Luna’s journey has a happy ending, too.
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This story was originally published June 22, 2021 at 1:46 PM.
