“Niko” ~ Case 440

Back on February 11th, Niko’s family stopped at Bucees Tesla charging station in Terrell and Niko accidentally escaped from the car.  Confirmed sightings of Niko were very limited at first and then dwindled to nothing.  Then on March 25, there was a confirmed sighting of Niko returning back to the Bucees Testla charging station area.  Since then there have been only unconfirmed sightings that suggest Niko is roaming a VERY LARGE area of Terrell and Kaufman.  The area is extremely rural on top of him being a working breed which is likely why there are  limited sightings.  We desperately need to get the word out to all of Terrell and Kaufman to please report sightings so that we may track him and ultimately close in on his location for capture.  

His family setup two feeding stations early on and they hired Kimberly with Lone Star K9 Pet Trackers.  Her dogs tracked Niko’s scent to an area near Bucees, but with Niko being on the run and roaming such a large area it was difficult to pinpoint Niko’s precise location.  His family has gone to the ends of the earth to locate him.   

~ Precise sighting locations are kept confidential to protect the integrity of the case and so that people don't flood the area and scare him off.  

Our team put boots on the ground for 10 hours today.  We met with Niko’s mom, we surveyed the area, scoped out all previous sighting locations, performed an aerial search of one particular area and we deployed a video monitored feeding station in addition to the family’s two.   

We truly believe that someone is still seeing Niko but they don’t know who to call.  We desperately need your help in sharing the flyer so that we can get more sightings.  Once sightings begin to come in, we can track Niko and narrow down his precise location within a more concentrated grid.  Please SHARE far and wide in Terrell, Kaufman, and all surrounding towns.  

We spent 6 hours yesterday digging up animal bones and scanning the soil for a microchip near one of the sighting locations next to a busy rural roadway.  The remains were in a ditch that rain water drains into causing dirt and debris to wash over and bury the bones.   

There were only bones left, no tissues.  Because several of the bones were missing, including most of the teeth, it was too difficult for our team to positively identify whether it was Niko or not, so we transported the remains to Dr. Natalia Stefanovska at Veterinary Emergency Group in Allen Texas where she confirmed it was not Niko.  

The remains are that of a small dog between 30-50lbs.  No collar found in the area.  

We received a possible sighting near I-20/FM 1641 in Talty, TX but it was a delayed report from two weeks ago. It’s very close to the Bucees location where he escaped.  If it was Niko, there’s a high probability that he is still in that same area.  If you live in the area please keep an eye out for him and watch local social media pages for sightings being reported that we may not see.  If you see him please contact us right away without delay if possible. 

Your shares are working!!!  We had another potential sighting from Saturday relatively close to the previous one.  Niko’s family will be handing out flyers to all of the residents in the area.  We have not yet been able to confirm that these two sightings are Niko so if you see him please take a photo or video.  

With each sighting that we pin on our case map, it starts to paint a picture and helps us close in on him.  These two recent sightings came days and even two weeks after the sighting.  We are hoping for more real time sightings as people start learning about his case.  Real time sightings help us locate him through an aerial search of a much smaller search grid and helps us know precisely where to deploy our video monitored feeding stations in preparation for capture.  

There have been zero confirmed sightings of Niko.  😟 Please help us keep an eye out on social media for any sightings posted.  

Although Niko’s family will never give up, our team has had to suspend our search and capture efforts because there have been zero sightings since our team first put boots on the ground.  If a confirmed sighting comes in, we will reactivate his case and locate and capture him.