The search for Mocha
Mocha, a chocolate Shih Tzu, has been the talk of Mountain Brook since the start of April.
Mocha, whose family lives in Cumming, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, was in Mountain Brook with her caretaker on Easter Sunday when she escaped the back fence she was in. She’s been missing ever since, though many people have been searching for her.
The pup is owned by Tera Reese-Beisbier and her husband, Brad Beisbier. The Beisbiers were on a cruise with their extended family at spring break and asked a friend to look after the 2 1/2-year-old Shih Tzu. The sitter visited relatives in Mountain Brook over Easter weekend, and that’s when Mocha got loose.
“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” Reese-Beisbier said. “We don’t know where she is.”
Much of the search for Mocha has been coordinated on the What’s Happening in Mountain Brook Facebook page.
On April 11, Reese-Beisbier posted this on the page:
“Can you all please keep an eye out for our precious ‘Mocha’? We went on vacation out of the country and our friend brought little Mocha to visit her Mountain Brook family. She was in Rock Brook Circle, near Crestline. We got back today to learn Mocha ran away on Saturday, April 4 in your community. My kids [and I] are devastated. We are offering a reward!!!”
That’s when the search really picked up. Animal welfare volunteer Nancy Porter has been leading the effort, along with a number of her friends.
“My biggest hope is that she’s in somebody’s house,” said Porter, who added she became involved when she saw Reese-Beisbier’s post.
“Here’s a woman who comes off a cruise, and not only is her dog lost, but her dog is lost from a city three hours away from her,” Porter said. “You only act when something pulls at your heartstrings. Here’s this family that has clearly taken care of this dog and loves this dog. My thought is, ‘Why wouldn’t I help? Why wouldn’t I look for this dog?’”
Reese-Beisbier received Mocha as a Christmas gift from friends in November 2012. She was 9 weeks old then. Mocha is chocolate brown with some silver and gray, an unusual color for a Shih Tzu. She weighs about 13 pounds. She also is microchipped.
Porter said a dog matching Mocha’s description has been spotted in Mountain Brook and even in Forest Park, but she said there has not been a reliable sighting for a couple weeks.
Still, the search continues.
“I’ve been over there three times,” Reese-Beisbier said. “You go over and have high hopes.”
In the beginning, Reese-Beisbier’s three children, 11, 9 and 7 years old, were very upset. The 7 year old kept telling his mother how much he missed Mocha.
“I’d just say we have to keep hoping,” Reese-Beisbier said. But after so long, Reese-Beisbier said, she doesn’t know what will happen.
“What’s going on? Is she hurt? Does she need me? Is she cuddled up in somebody’s lap?” Reese-Beisbier said. “I’d just like to know.”
Reese-Beisbier said she is not angry at her friend who brought Mocha to Mountain Brook.
“She didn’t do it on purpose,” Reese-Beisbier said. She added that when something like this happens, “you take inventory about what’s really important.”
Lost Pet Professionals is helping in the search, as are many Mountain Brook residents – and people who live elsewhere, like Porter, who lives in Forest Park.
“I go out once or twice a day,” said searcher Nancy Marriott. “I’m just a big animal lover. At one time in my life, I worked in an animal shelter, and I saw all the pups who were abandoned or who were stray. If [Mocha’s] family lived in town, she wouldn’t be missing this long. Most dogs can find their way back home. This dog has no way of finding its way back home.”
Searcher Natalie Isom Sansom agrees.
“This dog doesn’t remotely know where she is,” Sansom said. “I just keep thinking the dog will show up.”
Porter said she doesn’t know how long the search will continue.
“How long do you search? You search until you have exhausted every opportunity to find out about this dog,” Porter said.
Reese-Beisbier is encouraged by the response of the Mountain Brook community.
“You have a wonderful community there,” Reese-Beisbier said. “Nobody ever turned me down for putting signs up in their restaurants. The majority of everybody has been really compassionate and kind to me. They’re giving their time to a stranger. “I dream about a reunion,” Reese-Beisbier said. “I just picture her running up to us.”
Joey Kennedy is president and publisher of Animal Advocates of Alabama, a news and information website. He is also back-page columnist for B-Metro magazine.