عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Missing Dog Returned to Family Home and Rang the Doorbell

Athena, a 4-year-old German Shepherd and Husky mix, escaped her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on Dec. 15 - The AP
Athena, a 4-year-old German Shepherd and Husky mix, escaped her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on Dec. 15 - The AP
TT
TT

Missing Dog Returned to Family Home and Rang the Doorbell

Athena, a 4-year-old German Shepherd and Husky mix, escaped her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on Dec. 15 - The AP
Athena, a 4-year-old German Shepherd and Husky mix, escaped her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on Dec. 15 - The AP

After a nearly weeklong search, Athena found her way home to her Florida family in time for Christmas Eve and even rang the doorbell.

Athena, a 4-year-old German Shepherd and Husky mix, escaped her home in Green Cove Springs, Florida, on Dec. 15, prompting a search among the community and nearby towns for her. Her owner, Brooke Comer, said her family left for church that day and got a message from her neighbor with a picture of Athena outside the house.

Comer panicked. Her family rushed home to find her collar in the crate and no visible opening Athena could have gotten out from. How she escaped remains a mystery.

The next week's events continued to be an “unbelievable” story for Comer, where neighbors and community members from nearby towns would contact her from her missing dog ads and send any footage or photos where they may have spotted Athena. Based on all the alerts Comer got, it looked like Athena made a nearly 20-mile (32-kilometer) roundtrip while she was missing.

At every alert, Comer and her family would go to the spot within minutes and search for Athena — to no avail, according to The AP.

“She was the hide-and-seek all time grand champion,” Comer said. “With every sighting my heart jumped, and it honestly was excitement and then your heart's crushed because we were always one step behind.”

The entire search was a terrifying and scary experience for Comer, who was worried about where her already skittish dog could have gone or could have encountered. That was until 2:30 a.m. Christmas Eve, when she got a Ring video notification from her doorbell and her other dog began barking.

“I was kind of like in a daze, and the dog was barking, and as soon as I heard that ring, I looked at my phone and you could see in the video it was Athena and she was jumping at the door, ringing the doorbell,” Comer said.

As soon as Comer opened the door, Athena bolted inside and went to go lick her son's face, who was on the couch half-asleep. After that, she immediately grabbed her ball to play and shortly went to her cage to go back to sleep.

Comer said the experience gave so much hope because of the neighbors and the large community looking for Athena for the past week. The next plan was to get Athena a full exam, flea and tick treatments and a microchip.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Tourists Return to Post-Olympic Paris for Holiday Magic

Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
TT
TT

Tourists Return to Post-Olympic Paris for Holiday Magic

Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP
Around 270,000 people visited Notre Dame in the first eight days since its reopened. JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

Holidaymakers are returning to Paris for winter holiday magic as the tourism industry rebounds, inspired by the successful Olympic Games and the re-opening of Notre Dame cathedral.
"This year there is much more tourism than last time I came here. Much much more. Many more people," said Noemi Rizzato, a tourist from Milan who braved the cold to visit the Place du Trocadero on the Right Bank of Paris, bundled up in her down jacket, AFP said.
Georges Bardot, a 78-year-old pensioner from eastern France, also pointed to large numbers of foreign tourists amid the holiday hustle and bustle in the City of Light.
"We heard every language except French spoken on the metro," Bardot laughed.
This winter, Parisian hotels are experiencing a surge in demand.
The booking rate for two-week Christmas vacations neared 70 percent in mid-December, nine percentage points higher than a year ago, according to data from MKG Consulting.
Top-of-the-range establishments are doing particularly well, with an increase of nearly 14 points over one year.
According to the UMIH hotel and restaurant union, well-heeled international customers are making a comeback.
Frank Delvau, UMIH president for the Paris region, pointed to an "Olympic effect".
The Games "have made tourists want to come back, or to visit", he said.
Tourism professionals said the world's largest sporting event led to a lackluster summer in Paris.
Wealthy Parisians fled the capital for the summer and many foreign holidaymakers chose to stay away due to transport gridlock and a security crackdown. Hotels and airlines such as Air France saw a drop in bookings, while taxi drivers and restaurant owners said their businesses had been badly affected.
With five billion viewers, the Paris Games were the most followed Games in television and social media history, according to the International Olympic Committee.
- 'Time to go to Paris' -
"We needed this catch-up effect because the situation was very difficult in the third quarter," Delvau said.
"There was a very sharp fall in visitor numbers. The restaurant business was down 40 percent, 50 percent at times," he added.
From November 1 to December 8, international air arrivals to Paris rose by 15.4 percent compared to 2023, to reach 1.3 million, according to the Paris Tourist Office.
On the Ile de la Cite, the island site of Notre Dame cathedral, shopkeepers eagerly await the return of visitors after five years of reconstruction work, as well as the coronavirus lockdowns that saw a drop in tourist numbers.
"The Notre Dame opening this year was the biggest item on our list," said Teju Arora, an engineer from the United States.
"And we did visit Notre Dame, it was amazing. It's a beautiful site and it was great to see, to pray, to visit," said Arora, wearing a red beret.
Around 270,000 people have visited the medieval masterpiece in the first eight days since Notre Dame reopened in early December, rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas told French daily Le Parisien. "Around 30,000 people a day enter the cathedral."
Tourists "tell themselves it's time to go to Paris", Delvau said.
"They have both Notre Dame and the department stores' windows, which always attract a lot of people."