A 6-year-old dog that was on her way to join her foster parents in upstate New York remains missing after she did a runner at Newark Airport nearly a month ago.
The pooch, a 40-pound light-brown lab mix named Sukie, flew from Puerto Rico on a cargo plane on Sept. 15 but managed to flee as the plane was being unloaded.
“She broke out of the crate, ran down the ramp that goes from the plane to the ground,” Sukie’s foster mom, Jennifer Wereszynski, told The Post. “She got off the tarmac, then she was lost.”
Wereszynski, who lives in Puerto Rico, fostered Sukie for three weeks on the island and was traveling to Utica, New York, where her husband is from, in order to re-home the canine there.
“We need to get dogs off that island because it’s horrific what’s going on there,” she said. “There’s way more dogs in Puerto Rico than there are families to adopt them.”
The dog’s mom explained that she could not take Sukie on the United flight she took. “Back in the day, if you wanted to fly with your dog, you could check it in with your luggage. They don’t do that anymore since COVID,” she said.
After the pup disappeared, the couple remained in Newark for five nights but had to return back to Utica because they had their three dogs with them, and it got expensive to stay.
“It’s been over three weeks and we have not had any sightings,” Wereszynski lamented. “We are devastated and would love any volunteers that are willing to help us that are local to Newark. Our closest volunteer is 30 minutes away.”
Sukie, her mother and three siblings were surrendered to Amigos de Los Animales, a shelter in Loíza, Puerto Rico, a year ago. Wereszynski — who has fostered dogs from the nonprofit since early 2019 — took a liking to Sukie, who was the least viewed dog on Petfinder.
“I said, ‘Sukie, you’re coming with me. I’m gonna find you a home. I always figure it out,'” she explained. “Sukie did not deserve this outcome. She’s the easiest and sweetest dog. She’s no trouble at all.”