After being deployed to active duty in Afghanistan, 27-year-old Army Specialist Jon Walker is finally on his way home. A day or two after he left, he made a post on Facebook about how much he was missing his dog, Zara. He may return to find that Zara is missing, and his local community is now searching frantically to find her before he gets home.
“Missing my girl so much tonight. I just hope she knows I’m coming home for her when this is over. Can’t live without her,” were the words accompanying a photo posted on Walker’s Facebook page.
Zara was with her dog sitter, playing in a field together on the 28th of July in Crownsville, Maryland where Walker is from. Zara took off into the woods at one point, and never reemerged. Now, almost all of Crownsville is on the hunt, hoping to find Zara before Walker returns.
Missing posters can be seen all over the area, and his very loyal friends and community make daily searches around the area Zara was last seen.
Walker’s friend Heather Cappelli knows how horrible it would be for him to come home and not find his Zara waiting for him.
“The fact that he can’t be here and help is even more heart wrenching, because we can only imagine how he feels. To me, as his friends, it is our responsibility to find her, because he can do it on his own until he gets back,” Cappelli said.
Zara was last seen wearing a pink collar. She has white fur on her chest and is micro chipped. Everyone in the community is pitching in, and there’s not a lot of sleep in the future for Walker’s friends. They just hope that as a group, a local hero willing to risk life and limb for his country, can come home to his Zara.
