Without social networking site Twitter, it’s quite possible dog owner Deirdre Anglin might have never been reunited with her missing four-legged friend.
Her Jack Russell terrier, Patch, went missing Tuesday evening and then somehow hopped aboard an early morning commuter train in Kilcock, Ireland the following day.
According to reports, Patch appeared to enjoy his hour-long ride into the heart of Dublin, merrily making his way around the carriage and introducing himself to bemused passengers. However, it was only when the train reached its final stop in the Irish capital that travelers realized Patch’s owner wasn’t on board.
He was then handed over to station staff, who wasted no time in tweeting a photo of Patch to Irish Rail’s 18,000 followers in an effort to reunite him with his owner.
Meanwhile, anxious Deirdre had been doing what she called “the usual social network thing” by posting ‘lost dog’ messages on her Facebook page in the hope that someone may have seen him.
The breakthrough came after just 32 minutes following 500 helpful retweets of the station staff’s message when Deirdre spotted a tweet with her dog’s photo attached. “That’s my dog!” she tweeted Patch’s temporary guardians.
Speaking about the incident, Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny said Twitter was “the ideal platform for launching a nationwide appeal” such as this.
Kenny joked that some of the workers at the station had perhaps wished it hadn’t worked quite so well. “It was good she showed up so quickly, because the staff in the office were getting quite attached to him,” he said.
As for Patch and his owner, they are now back home enjoying life together. “The power of the twitters! Home safe and sound,” Deirdre tweeted following the ordeal.
[via AP]
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