A little good news for the weekend.
The timid German shepherd with warm brown eyes and a floppy ear was a familiar sight to commuters at the Metro Park & Ride on Interstate 10 and Texas 6.People worried about him, putting out food and leaving him blankets on cold nights. An e-mail group was created to keep tabs on his welfare, but despite repeated efforts to catch him, the pooch was too wary to be approached and too smart to be lured into a carrier.
But now, after four years of living off the kindness of strangers, "Metro" is no longer homeless.
Cedric Jenkins, a senior animal control officer for Houston's Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care, captured Metro with a tranquilizer gun Wednesday and turned him over to Citizens for Animal Protection, which had been trying to rescue him for 3 1/2 years.
Cynthia Shaw, CAP's coordinator of shelter operations, said the 5-year-old purebred will be in foster care while being treated for heartworms and will later be adopted by one of several families that want him.
"He's eating well and relaxing well, and he's come so far even in two days," she said. "It's just amazing."
Metro has a number of scars that Shaw said may have been caused by falling from the back of a pickup.
She said he likely belonged to someone before he became a stray.