It’s the news no one wanted to hear.
Hugo, a 40-pound whippet and hound mix who went missing last Thursday in York Region as a major winter storm blew through the province, has been found dead.
“Tonight so many grieve the loss of a special dog. Hugo will be missed very much, and will never be forgotten,” GTA-based dog and cat rescue group, Mattie’s Place, wrote Monday evening on Facebook.
“Thank you everyone for embracing Hugo and sharing so much compassion in his search efforts. We wish his story ended differently.”
On Dec. 22 at about 5 p.m., the one-and-a-half-year-old dog slipped out of his harness and winter coat after being startled by the closing garage door in his adopted home in Unionville, near Kennedy Road and Highway 407.
Denise Angus, the founder of Mattie’s Place’s founder, told CP24 in an email that they believe Hugo was hit by a moving vehicle on Christmas Day.
She said the extent of the dog’s injuries were not known, adding bloody paw prints were spotted at the crash scene in the area of 16th Avenue and Normandale Road.
“It’s so dense and heavily populated with other wildlife it can be difficult to track for obvious reasons,” Angus said Monday, adding if Hugo wasn’t found soon he would die.
“He is cold, hungry, tired, injured and can’t sustain much longer.”
Over the weekend, Mattie’s Place put out a call on social media asking for the public’s help to locate Hugo, who was last seen going into a construction site located at the former York Downs Golf Course near Kennedy Road and 16th Avenue. Anyone living near the area was asked to check their bushes, under their cars, in their sheds, and backyards for the black- and brown-coloured dog.
And while Mattie’s Place had a crew of volunteers on the ground searching 24/7, they asked area residents to help with the search and to put up posters. Hundreds of people showed up to help find Hugo.
“We just need a Christmas miracle for this dog, you know, he’s a young dog, and he has made it through a horrific storm, and he’s come way too far for his life to end this way,” Angus said on Monday.
With files from CTV Toronto’s Alex Arsenych.
