Local dog owner speaks out after missing pet was found dead

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A local dog owner who got online support to find her dog is speaking out.

She warns other animal owners about losing your pet and urges the community to call authorities when you find a stray animal.

“He was the best that happened to me to be honest,” said Cindy Morales, the mother of Goten, a shih poo who went missing in mid September.

Morales describes Goten as being her first child. She said she got him when she was pregnant with her now 6-year-old son.

“He was like my practice before I actually birthed my son,” she said.

Morales said she took a trip to meet a relative when Goten disappeared. She immediately went into action to find him.

“That’s when I started looking for him, but it never occurred to me to go on Facebook,” Morales said.

She made a post in the “Spotted in Bowling Green” Facebook group. That’s when the community began to step in and lend a helping hand.

“People physically got in their cars and they went to look. So, if something happens to you like this, reach out,” she said.

The search went on for Goten, bringing attention to many, including the wrong crowd. She said a fake agency posing as a rescue service reached out to her.

“I almost sent $200 to a rescue company that ended up being a scam and PayPal was actually the one who caught that and said I’m not sending this payment,” she explained.

She even received an AI picture of her dog from the said agency. However, Goten was actually somewhere totally different. He made his way to a local convenience store before he was released back outside.

Morales gives thanks to the young man who cared for him that works at the store.

“He took the last picture of my baby alive too, so I also thank them for that,” she said.

Morales and the community continued to search for Goten, but unfortunately, he was found dead the next morning after being released from the convenience store.

She says though it’s not the ending she prepared for, but she finally found her fur baby, waiting for her at the rainbow bridge in the sky.

She encourages other pet owners searching for their pets to keep searching.

Morales says, “Don’t ever give up. You know because even though my dog was found deceased, we found him at the end of the day. He’s home now, not the way I would’ve wanted. He’s here and he’s found, which is the most important thing,”

She said she is beyond grateful for the community members who helped search for him.

She says, “My baby meant the world to me and I think all of you guys knew that through my post, the tone, everything, it was painful so thank you Bowling Green community.”

If you do find a missing pet, you are urged to reach out to the Bowling Green/Warren County Humane Society.