Almost five years after he went missing in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura, a Yorkshire Terrier has been reunited with his family.
Kingston, who was six years old at the time, was found 300 miles away from his home in southwestern Louisiana at a frat house where he’d been enjoying plenty of attention and probably a few of the best dog treats , too.
His mom, Debbie LaFleur, told USA Today about the time he went missing.
“We had had Kingston for six years by this time. He was part of our lives. He was our baby. And so we went around the whole neighborhood. Everybody on Facebook was trying to help us locate him, but it was like, ‘We're not gonna get him back.'”
LaFleur had accepted that Kingston had gone until last month when GPS tracking service PetLink emailed her to tell her that her pup was found at a fraternity at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, almost 300 miles away.
A week later, LaFleur and her son drove over four hours to the Kappa Sigma house. “We pulled up to the house and all the guys were outside,” she said. “I was at the end of the walkway, and he was at the house, and I just said, ‘Kingston, come to Mommy'. And he just took off running, which made my heart burst even more. It was wonderful, wonderful to see him.”
Kingston’s whereabouts for the past five years are unknown, but he spent almost a week as a member of the fraternity. President Neal Rachal found him outside the frat house’s front door on March 30, and tried to find his family before giving him a home. Vice president John Christopher then took him to a vet, where he learned that he had a microchip.
Rachal said, “I walk in the house and John said, ‘He's Kingston' and I was like, ‘What are you talking about, dude?' And he was like ‘No, Benji is Kingston. He's from Lake Charles, Louisiana, and he's been missing for five years.’”
They contacted LaFleur through PetLink to let her know that Kingston was safe and healthy, and he stayed with them until April 4, when LaFleur was able to travel over.
Debbie and son Jared are reunited with Kingston thanks to the Kappa Sigma fraternity house (Image credit: Debbie LaFleur)
Since returning home, Kingston has met his brother, three-year-old shih tzu Cooper, and has adjusted back to his old life.
LaFleur believes her late husband, Joseph, brought Kingston home – she described Kingston as his “best friend.” After Joseph died in an accident at work in 2022, she said that, with Kingston’s return, she feels like she has a piece of her husband back.
She has also urged fellow pet parents to get their furry friends microchipped, explaining, “Once you microchip them and register them, no matter where in the world they would be, they would locate you. So that's very important and just a matter of taking them to a vet.”
If you’re ever in the same position as LaFleur, here’s our guide on how to find a lost dog . And, to keep your pets safe in the event of a hurricane, here’s our hurricane pet safety checklist
