Sunday Wrap-Up: Raven seen in Campbell, she may be traveling on the Los Gatos Creek Trail

Well, we rushed to the Campbell Farmer's Market this morning after receiving word that Raven had been sighted. We found the man who had seen her in front of Bistro Twist and spoke with him, and he was fairly certain that it was her and gave a physical description of the dog complete with collar so we feel reasonably certain that it was her. This was at about 7am during market setup and Raven was moving up East Campbell Ave heading west between 1st and 2nd streets. We split up, with Monica going down towards the creek and walking south, and myself and Veronica and her daughter Isabella walking the length of East Campbell Ave but without result. No one else we met had seen her, but we talked to many people and put up flyers.


Given that we have a sighting from last Sunday (10/4) afternoon at the Campbell Farmer's Market was breaking down; a sighting in Los Gatos on Monday 10/5, and then another sighting today 10/11 at the Campbell Farmer's Market again, it would appear that Raven is staying in the Los Gatos creek system between Los Gatos and Campbell. As our new friend who we have not yet met Kit Lofgren points out:

If she has been seen BOTH this week and last at the Campbell Farmer’s Market AND at Oak Meadow Park in Los Gatos in the time in between, it is highly likely that she is traveling along the bike path/trail between those two locations. There is also a dog park at the mid-point. This is VERY GOOD news because it indicates that she is staying off of the roadways. Additionally, the fencing along this corridor is designed to keep animals off of Highway 17. In short it is about the safest place she can be.

Where does this leave us? Though this is great news (that we have a sighting and a bounded area to search), it is still a giant area to search and we did not have any success today. We were confident enough to purchase a FindToto.com automated calling set for the Campbell area to commence tomorrow, and perhaps that will turn up more information. We will be back in the area looking for her. Elaine suggested that it is probably beyond Raven's abilities to know that "Sunday" means market day, and that she was sighted on East Campbell Ave may be less a function of market day than just that on Market days she is more likely to be sighted, and she may be touring these areas daily or almost daily in search of food and just not be being seen in the early morning hours most days. Her plan is to spend some time in the early morning hours on East Campbell and see if Raven sprints by. Myself, I have work to get done in the AM, but I will be out on the Los Gatos Creek Trail south of Campbell Park tomorrow afternoon doing more looking.

We've been in touch with our Pet Detective Jackie Philips, and are on her schedule to pick up with the tracking on Thursday, her next availability.

Interestingly, we got the call to check out the market about 11am. About 9:30 am we got the email response back from the Animal Communicator we had talked to the other evening, Suzi Dalling. Suzi had asked me to send her some concrete questions to ask Raven, so I (skeptical as I am) worked to comply with that. I had asked her to convey to Raven how concerned we are and that we are looking for her, and then a bunch of questions designed to try to narrow down where she might be. Suzi had sent back that she understood that Raven was staying in a place where there was always water (although roaming around looking for food from there), that the place was wooded, with a park a short distance to the east and that it was nearer to Campbell than Los Gatos. I'm not sure what to make of that, but it is at the very least an excellent guess and a coincidence. It is in accord with today's sighting.

As a final note, it continues to be amazing to me how different people react to our story and search. We were in the coffee shop at the Pruneyard Mall area (in between the creek trail and downtown Campbell) this afternoon and the young woman behind the counter was sympathetic to the point that she posted our flyer near the coffee lids so that customers would see it. This young woman was excited to show us pictures of her dog on her cell phone. Another man on a bicycle saw us putting up flyers on a bridge over the creek nearby the Pruneyard, and yelled out "graffiti!" as he road by. Clearly he saw us as nothing more than litterbugs. I suspect that this guy does not have a dog. When it is your family member who is missing, you will do anything to find her and get her back home again.