Rocko ~ Case 458

We have received multiple capture requests for this precious pup who has been roaming the area for MONTHS!  

Frisco Animal Control is unaware of him and has received zero calls about him. 

WE NEED SIGHTINGS to help us track his precise location and locate his hiding spots & dens so that we can start a video monitored feeding station.  A controlled feeding station will help us condition him for capture.  

Please check back here regularly for updates!!!  

We need to know if someone out there has already established a feeding station for him before we deploy a new one.  We are asking for everyone not to feed him, but if there is already an established feeding station, we may deploy a camera at the existing station and just continue that one, but we need to hear from that person.  

We received a call this morning from a Good Samaritan named Joe who came across our flyer on social media.  He explained that he has seen the dog multiple times and he has been feeding him in a patch of woods daily for months.  He also explained that he has been running around with 2 coyotes.  

We deployed our team to the area this afternoon to survey and to see exactly where Joe has been feeding him.  Our original intention was to setup a camera at Joe’s feeding station to confirm he is in fact eating.  Joe was absolutely convinced that the dog was eating at his feeding station daily so we made a spontaneous decision to deploy the corral in that location since we had all of our equipment with us.  We deployed the corral in a 10’x10’ configuration.  

In our typical feeding station setup, we put a pan of water under the food bowl to create an ant moat and in the food bowl we put in wet canned dog food with canned chicken on top.  Now we wait!  

Good Samaritan volunteer Joe added some hot dogs to the food this morning and shortly after that a squirrel showed up and drank some water.  The dog has not yet visited the feeding station.  

We will be going on site today to make a few longer scent trails leading to our Corral Feeding Station and try to lure him in.  

This afternoon one of our amazing volunteers Jessie was doing some social media research and after a long exhausting search, she ran across an old post from February 2024 where someone was missing a dog that looks exactly like this case. ~~~ We are happy to report that Jessie connected the two of us together and we have now spoken to the owner, confirmed that this dog is Rocko, and they are so relieved and overwhelmingly happy that he is alive.  

This is absolute PROOF that you should never give up.  For the past 8 months Rocko has been hiding in the woods only 3 miles away from home. 

For several hours last night and several hours this morning, we have been conducting aerial searches of the area.  We found all of the coyote dens but we did not locate Rocko!  We are very concerned that the construction will be pushing him out of the area very soon if they haven't already.  It's very strange that we can't locate him where he has presumably been living the past 8 months.  

We met with Rocko’s dad Henry today and showed him both feeding station locations.  He’s going to manage one of the stations while Good Samaritan Joe manages the other.  They are both following our feeding protocol.  

Henry is bringing worn clothing items to both stations later today.  

We added longer liquid smoke scent trails to both stations today so hopefully he will pick up one of the trails soon.  

One of our other big challenges right now is that there are construction workers and others likely feeding Rocko.  We are on site daily handing out flyers to all of the workers trying to get the word out for everyone to stop feeding him.  We need him good and hungry so that he visits one of our video monitored feeding stations in preparation for capture.  

Our team arrived bright and early again today to conduct aerial searches of the areas he has been spotted in before.  No sign of him yet.  We suspect he may be roaming up to 10 mi.² so it can take some time to locate all of his dens, track him, and lure him to a feeding station.  

We will remain on site in the area throughout the evening, continuing our search. 

‼️If you spot him, please do not post his location on social media. Please text it to our team command line at the number on the flyer above.  In the past when his location has been posted to social media, people have flocked to the area trying to hand capture him which causes him to keep running!  

After 4 days of rigorous aerial searches, 9-12 hours a day, over 10 mi.² of fields, forests and neighborhoods we finally located Rocko, 5.5 miles away from his last sighting, and 4.8 miles from home the opposite direction.  

We are going to setup a feeding station in this exact location ASAP once we get access permission from the property owner.  ~~~ We will be putting Rocko’s dad’s worn clothing items at the feeding station once deployed.  

We deployed a feeding station in the precise location we found Rocko in.  While we worked on the logistics of getting access to where he is, we have kept eyes on him from the air.  He has stayed relatively close for the last couple of hours so we are confident we can lure him to the feeding station with a long liquid smoke trail.  

Rocko found the feeding station!  ALL NIGHT LONG he paced and paced.  He got close but he was too SCARED to advance all the way to the bowl and eat.  Daylight will bring him a new perspective which will hopefully allow him to be brave!  

In addition from the feeding station camera video, we were also live streaming from the air as he ate from the feeding station for the first time.  Watch the drone video point of view on YouTube ➡️ https://www.youtube.com/live/1sFxVHN4mGQ?si=ZpvSrrtvEo5pTHsi

✳️ Now that he has eaten from the feeding station, we are coordinating our next move.  

It will not be possible to attempt another Aerial Assisted Hand Capture due to limited property access so we are moving on to a Corral Capture plan. 

After several hours of pacing most of the night, Rocko finally was brave enough to go all the way inside the Corral to eat.  

‼️ We were hoping to stage for capture later this morning but due to limited property access today, we are planning for staging and capture tomorrow (Monday). 

Poor baby showed up looking for dinner but there wasn’t any. 😫 In preparation for capture tomorrow morning we wanted him to be good and hungry.

If all goes as planned we will be live streaming staging and capture YouTube and Facebook.  

If you’d like to watch us on TikTok, we need at least 1000 followers to live stream so please go follow our page. https://www.tiktok.com/@mutts_mayhem_esar?_t=8quboADKWi6&_r=1

Today we staged on site for 11 hours in hopes of capturing Rocko.  We believe that the high winds had him really spooked because he was very hesitant to go inside the corral for several hours and paced all morning long.  Because he seemed much more cautious today we decided to put a second bowl inside the corral that was closer to the door.  Tragically while he was leaning inside, he must have grabbed the bowl with his mouth and pulled it towards the door and we didn’t know it because we couldn’t see it on our camera view.  Because we did not know he moved the bowl into the way of the door, when we released the door, the bowl prevented it from shutting all the way and he ran out.  It was truly a fluke thing.  ~~~~~ Now we will be starting the conditioning process over again.  We are confident he is still in the area but we need to earn back his trust. 

As of right now, we are going to monitor our cameras overnight and see what he does.  Our plan is very fluid right now and we will let you know asap what our next move is. We will update you in the morning.  

Rocko is still in the area but he hasn’t gone inside the corral.  It can take some time for him to trust it again.  

Originally the resident free roaming dogs that Rocko had been hanging out with were eating all of Rocko’s food so the owner tethered them for a few days ahead of our capture attempt Monday.  

NOW, in order to help Rocko relax, we asked the owner to let his dogs off tether and we will just feed ALL of the dogs including Rocko inside the corral.  Rocko [should] learn to trust the corral again from the resident dogs.  It can just take a little time.  

As soon as Rocko gets even close to the corral we will let you know.  He is hungry! 

Rocko ate from the bowl that’s 10 yards from the corral.  He was super spooked but this will get better as he learns to trust the corral again.  

We continued to monitor Rocko for several hours this morning since 06:00, logging his napping spots and observing his behavior.  This intel helps up tremendously as we work through his case and help him trust the corral again. Knowing where he is most of the time also helps us not to accidentally intercept him at his feeding station.  Poor baby naps a lot.  He misses his family, he just doesn’t know that all he has to do is go inside the corral again and he will get to go home!  

Since Rocko ate from the closer bowl position just now, tomorrow morning we will advance the bowl 8-12 inches closer to the corral.  He is tolerating conditioning very well just as we planned.  

Daily we are monitoring Rocko’s every move for several hours from the air.  We are logging his dens, his behaviors and activities.  This critical intel helps us tremendously in the event we need to change our current plan and adapt to his demands.  

After observing and recording him for 6 hours this morning we are now flight restricted due to rain.  

We will post our aerial videos very soon from this morning.  Please check back.  

Rocko came and ate on schedule this evening from the closer position.  He is so brave!  Tomorrow morning we advance the bowls even closer.  ♥️

We replenished the food early this morning as usual where our chances of intercepting him are much less. The resident dogs followed us to the feeding station and we fed them first. Rocko stays very close to the feeding station all morning and all afternoon, but he has transitioned to an evening eating schedule.

We were really hoping to observe Rocko from the air for a few hours this morning but unfortunately, we are flight restricted due to rain. Our other aircraft will fly in heavy rains, but we only utilize that piece of equipment during significant emergencies where we need to carry heavy payloads. ~~~ Thankfully, we know right where he is! ♥️

Since Rocko ate from last night’s position, this morning we advanced the bowls a few more inches all the way to the edge of the corral.  

The resident dogs followed us on our walk to the corral and ate the first round of food, so we waited for them to finish and we replenished it all again.  This has been a huge challenge because we don’t have unlimited access to the property to replace the food multiple times per day, but it’s critical that Rocko have irresistible food there when he arrives.  However, Rocko loves the resident dogs so much and they all hang out in Rocko’s dens so much that it’s important to let the resident dogs run free and do what they always do so that Rocko stays as relaxed as he can in that environment.  

🩶 When we located Rocko with the drone that day 5 miles from where he was previously denning at the residential construction site, he was on the RUN, looking for a new place to land.  We altered his narrative to keep going and we forced him to stay there by quickly dropping a feeding station in his path.  It wasn’t the ideal location but we had to act quickly to get him to stop running.

Rocko’s mom and dad gave us fresh worn clothing pieces this morning so there are new scent articles hanging on the corral.  

With the weather coming today he may not show up which is normal.  

We are also flight restricted today due to rain so we won’t be able to monitor him in his dens. We need the rain for the wildlife so we aren’t complaining.  

As we expected due to weather Rocko didn't show up yesterday or overnight last night.  Not to worry, he has excellent shelter at one of his dens and we know he is in there.  

If we aren’t flight restricted this morning due to rain then we will observe him from the air and share that with you.  

We are heading to the site shortly to put out fresh food.  

Poor dude was right on time of his usual evening show window and he just can’t catch a break… a lightening strike scared him as he approached the corral so he ran off.  

In this video you’ll notice at first he is leaning and petrified…. but then he starts to relax a little more but still very cautious.  Poor baby is so scared.  It just takes time to trust it again.  For the first time in our 12 years, he prefers the dry kibble we are putting out over wet dog food, rotisserie chicken, beef brisket, and hot dogs.  😮😱

 RAIN RAIN GO AWAY!  

We decided to wait till later this morning to put out fresh food to give the rain a chance to pass through so that his kibble is dry and fresh.  ~~ As fate would have it, had we went at our usual early morning time we would’ve intercepted him. 😬  He was already super spooked.   

We will be putting out fresh food around 09:00 this morning.   We will do a quick aerial check to make sure the feeding station is clear before we approach. 

We had eyes on Rocko for several hours this morning.  Here is a link to one of the videos that we live streamed!  You can see the corral as well as watch Rocko play with the resident dogs. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/FfZ0vSk6ONM?si=S9re-IN85KrRPWXP

Rocko came tonight and stayed at the corral eating for 16 minutes.  THATS HUGE!  But even better he ate from the bowl just inside the corral. 😁♥️

https://www.youtube.com/live/-no2JuCXVHQ?si=NAkd5DcjZNzsTxyF

Just moments ago Rocko ate the wet dog food from the bowl immediately outside of the corral during daylight.  Dad and mom’s worn clothing are hanging right in front of the bowl. ➡️ Watch previously recorded livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/-no2JuCXVHQ?si=4ibws3pKM6zJWHub

‼️ Lots of people have asked when we will be planning his capture so here is the long answer.  ~~~ Throughout this conditioning stage we are taking it day by day and letting him get REALLY REALLY comfortable eating at the corral.  We predict that it’ll likely be another week or more before he is all the way inside again.  But it could be sooner.  Right now he paces a lot due to fear and its best to take it very slow and let the corral structure become a “permanent” harmless structure in his mind.  We are creating a new normal for him through this complex conditioning stage.  

Based on his behavior eating at the corral last night and the rainy weather coming in today, we did not advance the bowls further inside the corral this morning.  It’s a delicate balance of give and take as we push his tolerance levels ever so slightly as he learns to trust.  We are going to let him get VERY comfortable eating from the bowl just inside the door before advancing the bowl.  

Ultimately in preparation for capture we for need him to go in and stay in eating for at least a minute or two without pacing.  This is critical due to a slight latency issue with our live video feed inside the corral that we watch to know precisely when to trigger the door (not the live stream on YouTube).    It’s imperative that we trigger the door when he is all the way inside eating from the far corner bowl.  If the door is triggered too soon, the door could hit him and then he may bot not approach the corral again and we would have to move to the drop net for capture.  It’s imperative that we also prevent injury as the door shuts very fast and very hard.   

Once Rocko is eating all the way inside the corral COMFORTABLY in a consistent window of time, we will plan capture. It could be a week or even longer and that’s okay.  We are on Rocko time!  

When Rocko showed up early this morning the wet food bowl just outside the corral was empty from him eating it all yesterday.  If he wants food this hour he has to be brave and eat the dry kibble just inside the door.  He did just that!  

We will be back on site at 06:00 this morning to replenish the wet food outside the corral, the dry food just inside the door, and the two wet food bowls that are half way inside.  Based on Rocko’s behavior at this early morning feeding, the bowls will stay in their current positions.  Once he is comfortable the bowls will advance.   

At the beginning of the video Rocko sniffs his mom and dad’s clothing items hanging in front of the bowl.  How precious!!!  

From our close up aerial observations we have seen Rocko scratching quite a bit and appearing slightly uncomfortable. It is most likely from a flea/tick infestation. ~~~ Under normal conditions we would have already put medication in his food to not only kill the fleas within minutes, but we would’ve given him a preventative to keep the fleas and ticks off of him until we can get him captured as well as a dewormer.  

Tragically medicating Rocko prior to capture is not an option due to their being cats and other dogs visiting the feeding station.  When we arrived on site the very first day after locating Rocko, we treated the resident dogs because they were infested with fleas and ticks themselves (Capstar to kill fleas instantly, Bravecto to prevent new fleas and ticks, and we administered a dewormer).  We don’t want to risk medicating them twice since there’s no way to control whether it’s Rocko getting the medication or someone else.  

It is also possible that Rocko has contracted a tick born disease such as anaplasmosis, but he will be tested, and treated for that if necessary immediately post capture.  

Team member Selena replenished the food this morning.  

There will not be any aerial observations today due to weather. 

He ate from the bowl just inside the corral again tonight.  Tomorrow morning we will be advancing the bowl further into the corral.  

Today will be a test of how far we can push him in this stage of the corral re-conditioning phase.  This will help us determine if we have to move slower or not.  We advanced the bowl several inches further inside instead of only 2 inches to see what he will tolerate.  

If this doesn’t rip your soul to pieces.  Poor Rocko was too scared to eat from the new bowl position, so at 06:00 this morning we are moving the bowl half way slightly closer to the door since we moved it too far too fast.  

https://www.youtube.com/live/8aY1OY-PIpI?si=t9yP0WYIMpPIG_hK

We will now be taking it VERY slow and literally moving the bowl 2 inches per day into the corral.  It’s going to take a while to get him all the way inside but his tolerance to change is critically low.

Rocko is also not food motivated at all.  He only eats to survive.  He isn’t at all tantalized by extra yummy food making his conditioning even more challenging. 

https://www.youtube.com/live/mv7k4Y2JVE4?si=77EfG7302hwtM3lP

https://www.youtube.com/live/Hz188_3PvgQ?si=VgVdqrvs6lu-wf9J

It’s no surprise that the resident dogs and Rocko are in competition over the food at the corral.  Our team has witnessed first hand resident dog Nala being food aggressive towards other resident dogs.  This has certainly slowed down his reconditioning process and created more challenges but Rocko is still making inch by inch progress into the corral.  

https://youtube.com/live/5mXdHydm2J8?feature=share

We took you along to the corral feeding station this morning to replenish the food.  Rocko is the small white dot on the right of the screen and then you can see two team members approaching the corral with the resident dogs to put  out fresh food on the left side of the screen.

We even observed Rocko frolicking with a doe.

https://www.youtube.com/live/TgYBhDUbOyk?si=03Ji4O4cRDZGM3rO

Rocko wanted to visit the corral food station this morning but two of the resident dogs were literally laying in front of it guarding it.  You can watch it from our aerial observation livestream this morning.  

LINK:

https://youtube.com/live/W8Dkb122UhU?feature=share

The good news is… he ate from the new bowl position!  

Tragically Rocko is reconditioning to the corral much slower than usual and the ranch superintendent has given us a very strict timeline.  Therefore we are having to move on to the Drop Net much earlier than we had hoped.  

Yesterday the ranch superintendent shut all of the barn doors. 😫 Between that and us making all of the noise setting up the drop net it could take a day or longer for him to calm down and visit.  

🔴 https://youtube.com/live/bLu9g2DkSJU?feature=share

Our sweet brave boy!  Not only did Rocko show up tonight but he went fully under the net fairly quickly and he even ate dinner from the MIDDLE bowl within only 2 minutes!  The middle bowl is the capture position!!!  The video makes the Drop Net look pretty small but it’s just an illusion. The Drop Net is 25’ x 25’!  

Now the plan will be for him to eat there for just a couple or so more days and let him get nice and comfortable where he doesn’t pace around when he eats.  We need for him to stay at the center bowl in a relaxed posture for a few seconds without pacing so that we can account for our 1-2 second live camera delay, to ensure that our timing is precise when dropping the net!   The Net release is completely silent and by the time there is any sound of the heavy corner magnets hitting the ground, the Net is already on them.  

The Net will not injure Rocko when it falls on him.  He will be frightened of course and he will get very tangled by design, but our team will be by his side in only a few seconds afterward and help him calm down.  

This morning we moved all of the food bowls to the center of the Net since Rocko ate from the one middle bowl last night.  We only had the bowls positioned as they were previously to test his tolerance in how far he would go under the net on his first visit.  We needed for him to eat regardless so we had to give him options initially to eat outside of the net, slightly under the net, and all the way under!  He was a very brave boy! 🥰   

Rocko hasn’t seen the Net during the day so if he shows up in the daylight today we are hopeful he will be just as brave as he was last night.  

We all love you so much Rocko!!!  ♥️ You’ll be home soon. 

We only did a quick observation flight this morning and Rocko was roaming aimlessly in one of his usual spots.  

WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/live/mI0lOP6hR5Y?si=2MaLe7UJulkXttt4

Rocko came and ate from the center bowl again but he is still pacing. This will hopefully get better within a day or two.

Peaches, one of the resident dogs visited while Rocko was eating under the net.  There were no issues or altercations.  On capture day we will all need to PRAY that none of the other dogs show up at the same time or we will not be able to drop the net.  

Last night he visited at 19:56 and tonight it was 19:28!  That’s fairly close to the same time so hopefully this will be his new time window.  

Today we will be on site at 14:00 to double check our wire connections, put power to the magnets and drop the net to the ground to test the drop and the tension level on our lines!   We will take a video of the test and publish it to this page afterward.  

If you’d like to watch one of our previous Drop Net Captures (Opal), click this link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qhw0x4ltp2mmf7u59mx7o/Opal_DropNet_Capture.MP4?rlkey=ipstwmc82t1mhhiccadgkk8xn&st=zs5z0bu3&dl=0

You’ll notice how fast the net drops and how it’s completely silent until the magnets hit the ground.  

We are coming for you sweetheart!!!  ♥️

We are on site and the Net is armed. Tonight we have team members Debbie & Selena and our teams’ Canine behavioralist and lead trainer of Happy Gentle Dog Place.  Cindy is out of town and Ginny just had surgery.  

The ranch superintendent is giving us access from 16:00 till 22:00.  Rocko has been coming around 20:00 each night but last night he did not show up until in the weeeeeee hours the morning . 😬

Please pray that Rocko shows up tonight within our staging window. 

‼️We will not be live streaming during staging because it’ll be pitch black and you won’t be able to see anything. 😫 ~ We will go live right after he is secured at the net!  Thank you so much for being here!  

Tragically Rocko did not show up tonight during staging. 😫The ranch hand residents were having an outdoor get-together at the house topside and we believe that kept Rocko away. We are going to beg the ranch superintendent for a longer staging window.  We are 1000% confident that had we been allowed to stay overnight we would’ve captured him.  

For the last two nights he has shown up to the Net during witching hours.  This is likely due to the evening social activities around the fire pit at the topside house.  

It was VERY windy early this morning and you can see how much it affected him.  He was very cautious. ~~~ When they are this far into survival mode they behave much like a wild animal And sometimes they are very hard to predict. 

We just received horrible news from the ranch superintendent.  As we explained earlier, we do not control the narrative in Rocko’s case.  The ranch superintendent where Rocko is located has full control and we are at his mercy.  Rocko has landed on private property where our teams access is VERY LIMITED and we must have an escort at all times.  This escorted access takes a ranch hand away from his work and his rest anytime we are there.  

The logistical issues on site have been nearly impossible to work through but we managed to do it over an entire month.  This case taking so long has been a direct reflection of the superintendent’s constantly changing rules and lack of understanding and tolerance of this complex operation.  

Other challenges include the free roaming resident dogs issues, our very limited access to the property, and of course the corral door incident. Our extremely limited access for capture staging makes it nearly impossible to operate on “Rocko time”. 

This hour we have Rocko right where we need him and we could literally have him captured in one single evening if we had access.  We requested to stage again tomorrow night or another night at their convenience but our request was denied by the superintendent.  Tragically we were advised this evening that we no longer have access to the property whatsoever after 5 PM.  Without reason or explanation we were told “NO MORE EVENINGS, daylight hours only, PERIOD”.  

This is truly tragic news.  We must now START ALL OVER and demand that Rocko visit under the net during the daylight hours.  We are not even certain that this can be done in the short timeframe we are being given because it will be completely up to Rocko.  ~~~~ So moving forward, we are putting out fresh food in the mornings and pulling all of the food up at 4:30pm daily so that Rocko and the resident dogs have zero access to food in the evenings.  This will either force Rocko to visit during the day and eat under the net or he will leave all together in search of food.  There is no other option in this case.  

~~~ Both of the resident dogs are now pregnant by Rocko.  

We are extremely grateful for the access that we HAVE been granted previously and moving forward.  We could have been told “no” from the very beginning but we weren’t.  Now we just have to work through the problem and pray that Rocko visits under the net during the day, AND SOON!  

If Rocko doesn’t convert to daytime in the time we are allotted then Rocko will likely live out the rest of his life alone on this ranch.  At this point it’s impossible for us to lure Rocko off of the property now that he has found a food source there.  

To pour salt on the wound… Rocko came EARLY this evening and ate.  He was there at 18:15.  Had we been allowed to stage again this evening we would have had him!   Now as the cold moves in, Rocko is still out there trying to survive.  

➖Rocko is not a candidate for chemical capture.  We cannot put strong sedatives in his food because we cannot prevent the other animals from getting to it first including cats.  We cannot shoot him with our tranquilizer rifle because he will not allow us to get close enough to him to do it safely.  

We spoke to Rocko’s family tonight and needless to say, they are heartbroken and devastated.  We are not giving up!  We will keep doing our best to work with the access we have.  💔

We were not given property access to pull up the food tonight so Rocko got to eat the food we put out this morning.  HE WAS SO HUNGRY.  He stayed for 18 minutes straight eating and without pacing at all.  Had we been given staging access tonight we would have captured him just moments ago… AGAIN. 😫💔😓

Rocko went under the net this morning.  There was no food  for them because we weren’t given access this morning.  

We will let you know what the plan is as soon as we know!  

In summary, the ranch superintendent irrationally denied us all future access to the property today after we offered him financial compensation in exchange for access during a second early evening capture window.  We are truly in shock and appalled.

We are trying to reach the property owners directly but we have been unsuccessful at all avenues.

We will soon be publishing our phone conversation recordings with the ranch superintendent so that you can see the full depths in his lack of empathy for Rocko and his family. 

WATCH FULL UPDATE HERE: 

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CvPNASMbY/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Rocko showed up right on time AGAIN where the Drop Net was just 2 hours ago before we were forced to remove our equipment.  Once again we would had captured him quickly just now had we had property access.  It’s heartbreaking to see him there roaming aimlessly looking for food where it normally would be.  

WATCH FULL FLIGHT:  https://www.youtube.com/live/b8QxSAH-V1g?si=IOBdiqb9mkzNLrZk

All of the phone numbers we were given for the property owners have been disconnected.  We have been working hard for the past few hours to reach them without success.  We found one business email and phone number for one of the owners so we left a voicemail and sent an email.  We hope to hear back SOON.  

We will be doing an aerial observation flight this afternoon to see if we can still locate Rocko on the ranch property.  We are very concerned about his well being.  

Rocko was essentially hanging out near his food which is only a few yards from where the Drop Net used to be.  

This afternoon we did an observation flight and Rocko was in all of his usual spots.  He is officially out of food and basically scrounging around the ranch at this point.  He does have access to berries in the forest and he will occasionally be brave in the weeee hours of the morning and do a quick drive by of the resident dogs food at the top of the hill. 

This is a complex and emotional situation. We are trying to take a calm and thoughtful approach and making one more attempt to resolve this issue with kindness.

Thank you for being here and thank you for loving Rocko and supporting our efforts to bring him home to his family!  We will never give up…. 

#TeamRocko

It poured rained all day yesterday so we were flight grounded.  

We will be conducting observation flights today and will be live streaming this afternoon at 16:00.  Subscribe to us on YouTube and turn on notifications to be alerted when we are live.  

LINK: https://youtube.com/live/CKwA1_d5yX4?feature=share

We could SCREAM with joy from the roof tops!!  We received a phone call from Mike moments ago with the best news.  We are now being given very generous access to the ranch property but in a different area than before.  We will have to recondition Rocko to this new area but we feel very confident we can do that!   They went to this new section today and took out a section of the fence and installed an access gate just for us and we will have 24/7 access without escort!  This is EXACTLY what we need.  

We will be meeting Mike on site tomorrow morning to sign liability waivers.  Immediately after we will be setting up a feeding station with cameras to start conditioning him to this new area!  

Once he is conditioned to eat in this new area then we will deploy the Drop Net in that location and condition him to eat under it there.  

Mike said “We want Rocko back home with his family as much yall do”!  

♥️ We are so grateful to the Property owners, to Mike, and to each and every one of you for speaking out and for your unwavering support!  ~~~ Everyone heard you!  ~~~ Now we are all on the same team to bring Rocko home and it’s a beautiful thing to see.   #TeamRocko

This morning our team surveyed our new operational area, we spent a couple of hours prepping the site, and we deployed a video monitored feeding station.  His new feeding station is precisely 626 yards from where the Drop Net used to be.  We laid about a 200 yard scent trail to help him find his new station more quickly.  The new area has some logistical challenges but we will work through them!  

After setting up the station we did aerial surveillance and found him napping about 550 yards away from his new feeding station.  WATCH: https://youtube.com/live/Yu-tJnLIGXM?feature=share

We will post videos right away as soon as he visits the station and eats.  The resident dogs do have access to this area, but we are hoping that it’s far enough that they do not visit and eat his food. Just in case other dogs or a coyote visits we put extra food out for him.  Coyotes do not typically eat the food that we put out unless they are desperate.  The coyotes we have surveyed on the ranch are healthy and they are hunting very well.  

Rocko found the new feeding station relatively quick.  He stayed for 11 minutes eating.  

Now we will keep replenishing the food daily and let him get nice and comfortable with the new location and monitor his eating schedule in this new location.  It’s very important that we let him get comfortable before deploying the Drop Net.  

We will be conducting daily aerial flights to see if his den locations have moved closer to his new feeding station or if they stay the same.  That intel is critical as we prepare and condition him for capture! 

Now that Rocko has come twice during the day in the new area, we will replenish his food early each morning and we will reduce the amount of food we are putting out since he will likely get to it each day before the overnight wildlife.  If the resident dogs start showing up we will increase the food but as of right now it’s not an issue.  

About a minute into the video Rocko shows up while a coyote is at his feeding station.  The coyote RUNS away and Rocko eats!   

This is precisely the behavior we were expecting and hoping to see as we get closer to deploying the Drop Net.  

After replenishing the feeding station this morning we did an aerial observation flight and found Rocko sleeping in one of his usual dens 446 yards away from his new feeding station.  It does not appear that he has moved his dens closer to the station which is fine.  

Rocko didn’t stay as long this time but we will take it!  He drank water from our bowl for the very first time!  

EXCELLENT NEWS!  Because the other dogs are not showing up, we decided this morning to put flea medication and a dewormer in his food.  He came early this afternoon and ate the medication that was on the very top.  He should start to feel much better within a few hours.

Coyote visits immediately after Rocko left.  

We put fresh food out this morning at 07:00 and then did an aerial flight and found Rocko in one of his usual dens sleeping.  He stayed there most of the day.  He didn’t show up to the feeding station until late this afternoon.  

We are making our plan to deploy the Drop Net ASAP…. but must do it around the rain that’s lingering for the next few days.  

They are all just surviving out there… 

Each morning when we replenish the food we spend about five minutes prepping the ground for Drop Net deployment.   We do this in small stages sometimes when dogs like Rocko are extremely reactive to large changes to the landscape they know too well.  Prepping this particular site requires the removal of 150-200 large stalked weeds in a field to clear a 30’ x 30’ area.  The net must drop on a clean unobstructed ground surface.  

These two hang out most nights… but when it comes to food, Rocko is definitely the alpha. ~~~ Find comfort in knowing that natural hybridizations are uncommon because the breeding cycles of dogs and coyotes are not synchronized.  

Pray to the powers that be that he just walks right under it like a boss… like he did the first time when it was at the previous location!  If he doesn’t we will just condition him.  

We have rain coming tonight and hopefully tomorrow it will start to dry out. We need for the ground to be relatively dry before staging for capture so that the magnets do not sink down into the mud, which would hinder him from dragging them, which helps him get tangled enough to not escape. 

Several days of rain made Net deployment very challenging because the ground is VERY SOFT.  The poles weren’t holding stable as they usually do so we had to put extra tension on our stabilization ropes.  As it dries out adjustments may be needed before capture.

♥️☺️Thank you SO MUCH to ranch employees Mike, Antonio, and Manuel for all of your help this morning.  We are eternally grateful.