‘I really want him home’: Dozens of pets go missing during Nebraska wildfires 

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The McCook Humane Society said that when the wildfires started Friday, it couldn’t keep track of how many pets had gone missing.

Through social media, some have been reunited, but others are still waiting for their four-legged friends to come home.

Tommy, a 4-year-old indoor cat from Cambridge, was last seen Friday evening.

His owner, Colonie Jones, said Tommy escaped when she evacuated to Arapahoe.

“This was in the middle of all that really bad wind, and I tried looking for him in the dark, and he just took off like a shot,” Jones said. “He was scared to death.”

She has gone back to Arapahoe every day since, hoping to find Tommy.

She posted to social media and even made fliers, but there’s still no sign of Tommy.

As the days go by, the more concerned she becomes. She just wants Tommy home.

“He’s definitely a part of the family, and with our kids grown and gone, he’s pretty much our baby,” Jones said. “But I really want him home.”

The Humane Society the number of missing pets became overwhelming.

“It was hard, I mean ‘okay, we got this, we got this, we’re at six, we’re at a dozen,’ I mean at one point I guarantee you, we were at a couple of dozen,” shelter manager Lorie Prestes said.

Joyce Deaver is another heartbroken owner.

She hasn’t seen Dakota, her 9-year-old Newfoundland, since Friday, when he went missing during evacuations near Cambridge.

But he has been spotted. A group of firefighters from Albion saw Dakota on Saturday.

Deaver said that has given her a sliver of hope, but as the days go on, that hope is getting harder to find.

“I went out running before work, and the sun was shining and it was a beautiful morning, and I just kept thinking I would see him come over the top of the hill,” Deaver said. “But the longer it gets, the more worried I get.”

She wants nothing more than to bring Dakota home where he belongs.

“He just knows I’m there every day with his treats, and yeah, I miss him terribly because he’s so afraid of people, but yet he always laid on my lap and let me scratch behind his ears,” Deaver said.

The Humane Society said it is still actively looking for missing animals.

The shelter has dog and cat food, blankets and other pet-related items for those in need.

The Humane Society encourages anyone with a missing pet to post about it on social media or get in touch with the shelter.