Residents in a North Fort Myers community are helping a woman search for her dog which once belonged to an Iraq War veteran.
Gina Gargano has placed a crate in the area he was last seen, with her T-shirt and her dog's blanket, hoping to lure him back home.
The 3 year-old Anatolian Shepard named Wrigley was last seen Saturday night. Gargano says she was unpacking after a drive from Boston to Fort Myers, when something startled Wrigley and he ran off. He was then hit by a car on Bayshore Road and continued running.
"All I could see was him walking down the street with that leash thinking, oh my god," said Gargano.
A year ago, one of Gargano's daughter's passed away and since then Wrigley has been her support system.
"He was a gift, from one of the soldiers in Iraq and that's the special bond I have," said Gargano. "We really want to get him back, he's not just a domestic dog he's a survivor and he's a special dog."
As the daughter of a Korean War veteran she has worked tirelessly to reunite vets with the military dogs they served with overseas.
But now she's the one in need of a reunion, and one local vet wants to make that happen.
"We gotta get it back home again," said Jim Stebbins, a purple heart Vietnam veteran. "It deserves to have a quiet time," said Stebbins.
A quiet time in his own space, giving Gargano the support she needs to help other dogs find their way back to their soldiers.
"These dogs are the dogs that help these soldiers get through their PTSD and get through life everyday," said Gargano. "I can't do enough to help them."
