Anyone who is a pet owner understands how devastating the loss of a pet can be.
Michael Parker and Leigh Goyer Parker of Montgomery, Alabama recently endured this trauma but fortunately for them, there is a happy ending.
Three-and-a-half-year-old Soup is like a son to the Parker’s and is named after Leigh’s dad, whose nickname is Soup.
“He was actually born on my birthday, which is one reason we knew he was going to be ours,” says Leigh Parker in an interview with WSFA 12 News.
Soup Wanders Off
Soup and his dad spend a lot of time bird hunting together, and earlier this month the two were out doing what they love. Except this time, Soup ran off.
Leigh says,
“He called me and said, ‘Soup is gone, he ran off.’ Not knowing whether he was caught in brush or was injured—worst-case scenarios kept going through our minds. It was terrible.”
Michael added, “It was heartbreaking.”
In an effort to do all they could to find him, they posted about Soup going missing on a local Facebook group dedicated to missing pets. It was this one action that eventually paid off.
Living Life Large at a Local Prison
Three days after posting to the Facebook group, the Parkers found out that Soup had been found. And he hadn’t been hurt or roughing it in the bush, as they had feared.
According to Leigh,
“A prison guard who was looking for his own dog who had been lost, saw a picture of Soup and recognized him and called me right away.”
Just imagine the Parker’s joy when they got this call. And imagine how thankful they were when they got to the Kilby Correctional Facility. And while they were anxious to get him back home again, it seems Soup was a little hesitant to leave his new digs. And I’m sure that’s not something you usually hear about a prison.
Turns out that when Soup was found he was brought into the prison where he spent his time playing in a big field outside, playing basketball with the inmates and even playing with the K-9 dogs that worked at the facility. The inmates took good care of Soup. His sentence there was short, and it was very sweet. And if he had been used to a diet of kibble up to this point, the Parkers are going to have their work cut out for them, since Soup now has a taste for finer things thanks to the prison inmates who shared their meals with him.
“He’s had roast beef, chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, lima beans, had steak one night and peach cobbler,” said Michael.
The prison even provided him with his very own mattress for the length of his stay. So you can understand that while I’m sure he was very excited to see his people again, he wasn’t so sure at first about leaving all this behind.
Michael confides,
“When I went to pick him up, he looked at me, then looked back at his friends, and looked at me. It looked like he was about to pull a quarter out of his pocket and flip it for whether he was going to stay or not.”
Fortunately, the lure of going back home to his family was too hard to resist. He’s back home again, but the Parkers do admit that if he ever goes missing again they know where he’s likely gone.
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