A fugitive gains fame in New Orleans eluding dart guns and nets
NEW ORLEANS– A dirty little fugitive is on the run again in New Orleans and rises to prominence when he outsmarts a stubborn group of civilians armed with night vision goggles, nets and a stun gun.
Scrim, a 17-pound, mostly terrier mutt, has become a folk hero, with inspiring tattoos, T-shirts and even a ballad as he eludes the group of volunteers.
And like any antihero, Scrim has a backstory: Rescued from a semi-feral life in a trailer park and adopted from a shelter, the dog broke loose in April and scurried around town until he was dead. cornered in October and taken to a new home. Weeks later he had had enough. Scrim jumped out of a second-floor window, a desperate act captured in a now-viral video. Since then, despite a stream of daily sightings, he has been walking around freely.
The dog’s fans include Myra and Steve Foster, who wrote “Ode to Scrim” to the tune of Ricky Nelson’s 1961 hit, “I’m a Travelin’ Man.”
Leading the reconquest is Michelle Cheramie, a 55-year-old former information technology professional. She lost everything – house, car, possessions – in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and in the aftermath, she found her calling to save pets.
“I thought, ‘This is what I should be doing,’” Cheramie said. “I was born to save.”
She launched Zeus’ Rescues, a nonprofit shelter that now averages 600 cat and dog adoptions per year and offers free pet food to anyone who needs it. She helped Scrim find the house he first escaped from.
It was Cheramie’s window that Scrim jumped out of in November. She has since resumed her ruthless mission, posting flyers on telephone poles and recording social media updates about his reported whereabouts. She has invested thousands of dollars in wildlife cameras, thermal sensors and other equipment. She took a course from the San Diego Zoo on the intricacies of animal calming.
And she’s developed a network of volunteers — the kind of neighbors willing to scour a city at 3 a.m
People like writer David W. Brown, who runs a crowdsourced Google Map of all known Scrim observations. He says the search has prompted residents from all walks of life to come together. As they search for Scrim, they hand out supplies to those in need.
“Being a member of the community means seeing problems and doing what you can to make life a little better for the people here and the animals around you,” Brown said.
And neighbors like Tammy Murray, who had to close her furniture store and lost her father to Parkinson’s disease. This quest, she says, has gotten her mojo back.
“Literally, for months I did nothing but hunt this dog,” said Murray, 53. “I feel like Wile E. Coyote with him every day.”
Murray drives the Zeus’ Rescues van towards reported Scrim sightings. She also wields a tactical net launcher, which looks like an oversized flashlight and misfired once, shattering the van’s window as Scrim sped away.
After realizing that Scrim had recognized the sound of the van’s diesel engine, Murray switched to a Vespa scooter, for stealth.
Near misses were tempting. Spotting Scrim sleeping under a raised house, the searchers wrapped construction nets around the perimeter, but an over-enthusiastic volunteer broke ranks and charged forward, allowing an open Scrim to slip through.
Scrim’s repeated escapades have led to almost daily local media coverage and a devoted online following. Cheramie can agree with it.
“We are all running from something or to something. He does that too,” she said.
Cheramie’s team dreams of placing the dog in a safe and loving environment. But a social media chorus growing under the hashtag #FreeScrim has other ideas: They say the runaway should be given a life of self-determination. The animal protection volunteers find this misleading.
“The streets of New Orleans are not a place where a dog can be free,” Cheramie said. “It’s too dangerous.”
Scrim was a mess when Cheramie briefly recaptured him in October, with a matted coat, missing teeth and a torn ear. His shaking body was scraped and bruised, and pierced by multiple projectiles. A vet removed one, but decided not to operate to eliminate a possible bullet.
The dog initially seemed content indoors, sitting on Cheramie’s lap or napping next to her bed. One day while she was away, Scrim chewed through a mesh screen, fell 13 feet to the ground and squeezed through a hole in the fence as he trotted away.
Murray said Cheramie’s four cats probably scared him.
“I believe with all my heart that the gangster cats were setting him up,” Murray said. Cheramie thinks they have become territorial.
Devastated but undeterred, the pair re-examine where Scrim might best fit: perhaps a safe animal shelter with large outdoor spaces where other dogs can keep him company.
Somewhere, Murray says, “where he can just breathe and be.”
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on social platform X: @jack_brook96