SPENCER, Idaho — Idaho Transportation Department workers are helping reunite a missing dog with her owner three weeks after crews first spotted the animal running across Interstate 15 near Spencer and just north of Idaho Falls.
Joe and Kurt, members of ITD’s Dubois shed crew, were working in the Spencer area when they saw a small dachshund cross four lanes of traffic and narrowly avoid a semi-truck. They diverted traffic and attempted to catch the dog, but it disappeared into tall weeds just off the highway.
Joe contacted the Snake River Animal Shelter, which set live traps in hopes of locating the dog.
Shelter staff later learned the dachshund, named Tessa, belonged to a Canadian couple who were involved in a fatal crash in late October. The crash tragically killed the husband, and the widowed wife feared the dog had been lost for good as well.
Kim, another Dubois shed crew member who lives in Spencer, monitored the traps but saw no activity. On Monday, Joe and Kurt checked again during their shift and found Tessa safely inside one of the traps.
The dog is now set to be reunited with her owner as she continues to grieve her husband’s death.
Joe and his wife plan to meet the owner’s son in Butte, Montana, to return Tessa.
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