Buddy the Beagle is rescued!

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Buddy the Beagle was found on Monday afternoon after being lost at Fisherman’s Cove in Manasquan on Aug. 31. He was found on Gull Island by “Muskrat” Jack Neary, and has been reunited with his family. Photo by SUEANNE GOSS, STAR NEWS GROUP

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By Jamie Biesiada

MANASQUAN — Christmas miracles really do happen, and the Kelley family just received the best gift possible — Buddy the Beagle, their beloved dog who had been missing since Aug. 31, was returned to them and reunited with his family.

After months during which his owners undertook a massive search effort in the area surrounding Fisherman’s Cove, here, where he went missing, Buddy was returned to owners Edie, 66, and Charlie Kelley, 67, on Monday night, Dec. 7.

Throughout the grueling three months without Buddy, the Kelleys said they never gave up hope and always thought they would find Buddy safe and sound. Their diligence had residents throughout the southern Monmouth County and northern Ocean County area talking about Buddy at football games, family dinners, bars, in school and on the Internet. In the Manasquan and Brielle area, Buddy’s picture could be seen on lost dog flyers posted on dozens of telephone poles.

“We just kept at it,” Mrs. Kelley said. “We’ve been coming down every day since he was lost.”

Now that Buddy has been reunited with his family, “we’re just ecstatic,” Mrs. Kelley said. “What a great Christmas present!”

Their son, Patrick, 46, and granddaughters Alyssa, 16, and Shannon, 12, are equally overjoyed to have Buddy back.

“Muskrat” Jack Neary was ultimately responsible for finding Buddy after he set out several safe traps on Gull Island County Park and Conservation Area in Ocean County.

Mr. Neary is the animal control officer for the borough of Point Pleasant Beach. He got involved with finding Buddy after speaking with Mrs. Kelley, telling her if Buddy was on Gull Island, he would find him. Mr. Neary volunteered his time and expertise to help locate Buddy.

Gull Island is a 48-acre island that lies in the Manasquan River between the Manasquan Inlet and the Route 35 Bridge, just north of Channel Drive and Broadway in Point Pleasant Beach.

The Kelley family, along with an anonymous donor who came forward and offered to match the Kelley’s reward of $500, were preparing to present Mr. Neary with the $1,000 reward for Buddy’s return yesterday.

Though 4 year-old Buddy lost 16 pounds during his ordeal, Mrs. Kelley was happy to say he is in good health otherwise.

The saga of Buddy began when he was lost on Aug. 31, when the Kelley family, of Eatontown, last saw him at Fisherman’s Cove in Manasquan. Fisherman’s Cove, often called the “dog beach,” was where Buddy broke away from his leash after something “spooked” him when he was coming out of the water after swimming, Mrs. Kelley said, and he took off running.

From Fisherman’s Cove, Buddy ran onto Third Avenue, and then onto Brielle Road, running toward Brielle and away from the Manasquan beach. The Kelleys have been searching for Buddy in Manasquan, Brielle, Wall Township and on Gull Island ever since.

Throughout November, the Kelleys received several phone calls from fishermen who reported seeing a dog running on the beach on Gull Island. One of the fishermen, Brian Newman of Wall Township, brought the Kelleys to Gull Island by boat to search, but they did not find Buddy that day.

Nearly a week later, the New Jersey State Police, Marine Patrol Division, Point Pleasant, sent a search team to the island, as well, after receiving a report of a lost Beagle there.

The Coast Guard, with a station nearby in Point Pleasant, had also reported seeing Buddy on security cameras pointed in the direction of Gull Island. They reported the sightings to Mr. Neary.

The day after Thanksgiving, the Kelleys, along with friends and family, headed to Gull Island.

“We parked at Gull Island’s parking lot on Broadway, and walked along the railroad tracks until we found a man-made clearing through the weeds and marsh,” Mrs. Kelley said. They made their journey at low tide.

“We called and called and called,” she said. “But no Buddy.”

The same search was repeated the Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving, Mrs. Kelley said, but to no avail. However, the Kelleys continued to receive calls of a Beagle spotted on Gull Island.

On Nov. 30, “Muskrat” Jack offered to put a trap on Gull Island. He was prepared to use several, but after visiting the island and spotting Buddy once, he believed one trap in a strategic location would be enough.

Mr. Neary said when he initially saw Buddy, the Beagle ran by him “like a Greyhound.” But, he then knew for sure Buddy was still on Gull Island.

Mr. Neary’s efforts paid off this past Monday afternoon.

Around 3 p.m., he placed the first trap on the island. He went back later that afternoon, and, a little after 4:30 p.m., he called his wife, Nancy, who was at home with the Kelleys’ phone number, and told her to call Mrs. Kelley and give her the good news.

“‘He’s got your dog!’” Mrs. Kelley recalled Mrs. Neary excitedly saying.

Mrs. Kelley’s reaction, she remembered, was pure excitement.

“Oh my God, he’s got him, he’s got him!” she yelled.

When he first saw Buddy inside the trap, “he looked tired,” Mr. Neary said. He also appeared emaciated. Mr. Neary said, “I got a lump in my throat” just looking at Buddy.

The Kelleys immediately drove to meet Mr. Neary and Buddy in a nearby parking lot on Broadway in Point Pleasant Beach.

“He [Mr. Neary] was phenomenal,” Mrs. Kelley said.

“The dog is a miracle,” Mr. Neary added. “That poor little dog was the one who kept himself alive out there for 98 days. I just offered him a ride home.”

Mr. Neary said there is no source of fresh water on the island, and there is little food for a dog. He heard from the Coast Guard that Buddy was seen dragging dead Sea Gulls over the beach, but Mr. Neary said in his experience with Sea Gulls, they do not have much meat on them.

To lure Buddy into the safe trap, Mr. Neary said, he used special bait. Asked what that bait was, Mr. Neary replied, “It is a total trade secret.”

Mr. Neary and the Kelley family loaded the trap, with Buddy still inside, into a car and drove to the vet’s office. Mrs. Kelley explained Mr. Neary did not want to remove Buddy from the trap, afraid he would be frightened at all the excitement and that he might run off again.

The Kelleys’ vets, Scott Turk and Darren Weisenstein of 4 Paws Animal Hospital, Englishtown, said Buddy was generally healthy, but underweight.

His potassium levels were slightly low and his liver function was a little off, Mrs. Kelley explained, but the vets informed her those issues would work themselves out in time. Buddy has another check-up appointment in three weeks.

“Everything’s fine,” Mrs. Kelley said.

During the months Buddy was missing, he lost a total of 16 pounds. That brought Buddy from his original weight of 35 pounds to a rib-revealing 19 pounds.

“He’s skinny as all get-out,” Mrs. Kelley said. They were advised to feed him several small meals a day so he can safely re-gain weight, which they have been doing, she said.

After his visit to the vet, Buddy finally returned home.

“When he walked in the house it was like he never left,” Mrs. Kelley said. He “trotted” around various rooms, sniffed the Kelleys’ other dogs, and settled down.

It is still a mystery how Buddy made it to Gull Island. The younger Mr. Kelley said he did not believe Buddy would have swam across the Manasquan River to get there, and guessed that he probably walked across the nearby railroad track bridge that connects Monmouth County’s Brielle to Ocean County’s Point Pleasant Beach, and runs right next to Gull Island.

Mr. Neary said it was possible he walked across the tracks if the railroad bridge was down to let trains cross, but he was not really sure how Buddy made it to Gull Island.

But, Mr. Neary said, “I’m glad it worked out for the dog. It was a happy ending … I’m glad we could end the year on a happy note.”

“I cannot begin to tell you how thrilled that I am that Buddy was found,” the anonymous reward donor said. “It’s a real Christmas miracle!”

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