Husky escapes cage at pet rescue, tries to break out his other dog friends then has a midnight feast before being busted by cops
A dog at an Arizona animal shelter made a daring escape from his kennel before trying to free his friends, finding a snack and leaving an offer from local police to clean up the mess.
The crazy series of events was captured on security cameras at Lost Our Home Pet Rescue, a transitional care program for housing insecure families.
King, a Siberian husky, escaped from his kennel just after midnight on November 16 and quickly tried to free his friends.
In the surveillance video, he stands up on his hind legs and frantically claws at a kennel with what appears to be another husky.
When that doesn’t work, King starts squeezing the cage’s lock before jumping down, seemingly defeated.
King, a Siberian husky at Lost Our Home Pet Rescue in Arizona, escaped from his kennel just after midnight on November 16
After trying in vain to free his four-legged friends, he went into an adjoining room and sniffed out a snack.
A Tempe police officer responded after King set off an alarm and took it upon himself to clean up the mess
He then turns to the neighboring cage and comes face to face with a large white dog with black spots.
King flops onto his side and the two dogs stare at each other, seemingly communicating without words.
He tries the same approach, clawing at the lock. When that doesn’t work, he walks to the door and presses the handle. Miraculously, he wrenches the door open and flees into an adjacent room.
A camera in the office captures King rummaging through some filing cabinets.
King sniffs a container full of kibble on top of a shelf, knocks it to the ground and digs in. He then pushes the container across the floor, spreading dog food everywhere.
Founder and CEO Jodi Polanski said she only learned of King’s escape when the alarm went off at the shelter.
“It was like, you know, 12 o’clock, 1 o’clock in the morning and I immediately looked to see what was going on but couldn’t find anything, and then I saw the mess, and I thought, ‘Oh my God,” Polanski told FOX 10.
After eating his fill, King goes to a door leading outside and starts barking. It quickly becomes clear why: A Tempe police officer has stopped outside, his cruiser visible through the glass.
King tried to free other dogs by scratching their kennel doors and gnawing on the locks
When all else failed, he started working on a nearby door and tore it open using only his paws
In a nearby office, King quickly looked for a container of kibble
He slammed it on the ground and started feasting, dumping dog food everywhere
“The police actually came because he set off the alarm, and it kept going off over and over again,” Polanski explained.
The officer squeezes in and prevents King from getting out. But the husky just seems to want to have a buddy, jumps on the man and tries to lick his face.
The officer closes the door and walks inside with King following behind him. The pair head to the kennels and the officer puts the dog back in its cage, seemingly off camera.
A moment later he returns and begins tidying the room, picking up a fallen folding ladder and leaning it against the wall.
He then grabs a broom and dustpan before sweeping the bits into a neat pile. The officer does meticulous work and looks under the chairs and desks to see if he has missed anything.
He throws the kibble into a trash can, cleans up the spills, and finally puts the lid back on the dog food bowl.
The officer appears to catch his breath before returning to his patrol car and driving away.
Polanski was touched that an officer – who wished to remain anonymous – had taken the trouble to clean up.
‘The next morning I looked at the images. Two in the morning. I’m like, ‘How is that possible?'” she said. “I had no idea the officer was going to clean up, and I saw it and I thought, ‘Wow, great man for doing that.'”
After finishing his meal, King ran to the door and peered outside, just as a police car pulled up
The officer stepped inside and was greeted by the Siberian husky, who jumped up and licked his face
When the officer saw the mess, he started cleaning up and even grabbed a broom and dustpan to sweep up the dog food.
Jodi Polanski, founder and CEO of Lost Our Home, called the officer an “amazing man” for taking it upon himself to help
Lost Our Home posted on Facebook calling the interaction “the cutest arrest ever.”
While netizens noted that the police officer and the husky seemed like a perfect match, the shelter confirmed that King had been adopted within a week of his escape.
Lost Our Home was founded in 2008 during the housing crisis. Polanski worked as a mortgage banker at the time and witnessed first-hand the mass displacement of families.
She saw pets being abandoned in foreclosed homes or dumped in shelters when their owners had no other choice.
Polanski and a small group of volunteers began the rescue effort, which quickly expanded to meet the urgent needs of the community.
Today, the shelter offers other programs, including a pet food bank, a low-income boarding program and a partnership with the Sojourner Center in Phoenix, one of the largest domestic violence shelters in the country.