One Maryland man literally went the extra mile to return a lost dog to his owner more than 1,000 miles away.
Zach Holt, a former humane society volunteer, made the 1,300-mile trek out to Wichita, Kansas, from Ridgeley, Maryland, to drive Zimba, an eight-year-old pit bull mix, home to his rightful owner, WFTX reports.
Zimba had been abandoned by his owner’s former boyfriend along Maryland’s Eastern Shore before the Caroline County Humane Society discovered the animal in November.
The humane society tracked down the dog’s owner, Ikea Mosley, through his microchip and discovered that Mosley was living in Wichita.
Mosley struggled to make arrangements to bring the pooch home because of family and work obligations and had been told by several airlines that her dog would not be allowed to fly to her location.
“I’m a single mom, so I wasn’t able to get away from work and get to him, if I could have I would have drove all the way to get him,” Mosley said.
That’s when Holt came into the picture. Holt, in conjunction with the humane society, documented his 1,300-mile journey to Wichita on the Caroline County Humane Society’s Facebook page. Word of his journey to reunite Zimba with its owner spread around the world, and quickly gained traction on social media.
When Holt arrived in Wichita with Zimba, Mosley could not believe that someone could go to such great lengths to return a lost dog.
“I’m very, very thankful, like I’m like speechless, because I really can’t believe you drove all the way here,” Mosley said at the time, embracing her dog after months of being apart.
Despite the long journey, Holt said that he was happy to have Zimba as his travel companion.
“This is the best riding companion I’ve ever seen, he was great, he napped the entire way, everything was perfectly fine he had no complaints,” Holt said.