14 hours ago
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And they say cats have nine lives.
Chili the Chihuahua mix ran off from his stricken Manhattan owners and was missing for 10 days last month — before an eagle-eyed kayaker plucked the oil-covered, malnourished pooch from the water off Manhattan in what locals are calling the “Second Miracle on the Hudson.’’
The dogged 8-month-old pup is now happily back with owners Gabby Porter and Gianni Calistro, both 27, in their Hudson Yards apartment, a fairytale ending to one of the worst weeks of the young couple’s lives.
“It’s really a miracle. He really did fight to come back home,” Porter, an architect, told The Post.
The dramatic tale initially unfolded June 11 when Porter and Chili were wrapping up a double pet date with a friend and her golden retriever in the West Village.
Chili, uninterested in splitting from his flaxen-haired four-legged friend, wriggled out of his harness and bolted for one last goodbye lick — but instead ran directly into traffic.
“He kind of got hit by a car. A car bonked him and slammed on his brakes. Then he got spooked, so he went running down south, and we ran after him — but he’s so fast,” recalled Porter, whose story was first reported by local outlet 42nd Street.
Porter and her friend ran after Chili, but the tiny canine was in the wind.
The dog’s frantic owners then logged more than 10 hours apiece each of the next four days — including two days they took off from work — canvassing the West Side Highway and plastering every pole, street sign and window with “lost dog” posters.
“I was screaming his name in the streets, it was really sad,” Porter said, with Calistro adding that, “It got to a point where it felt like we were going in circles because we didn’t know which way to go.”
The signs and a series of social-media posts drew some leads: Tipsters called to say they saw Chili at Pier 40 the night he disappeared.
Security cameras along the waterfront also caught sight of the pooch that night, but then Chili seemed to vanish into thin air.
The next week was grueling — and the couple’s grief was intensified by perverted prank callers who claimed to have eaten Chili and others who callously barked into the line.
“Those calls would really make our hearts stop for a second,” Calistro said.
“Chili was kind of like the start to our family,” he said. “We’ve only had him for six months, and he’s already made such a positive impact on our lives.”
By the time the kayaker called the couple Saturday, June 21, to say he found Chili in “the river,” Porter and Calistro’s faith had worn to the bone.
They assumed it was another cruel joke — until a picture of their beloved Chili, covered in motor oil and malnourished, was sent.
The dog had been found 200 feet off shore — more than the length of an Olympic swimming pool — by the kayaker enjoying the sights around Pier 26.
“There was a huge pile of trash floating in the water, and within this pile of trash, there was something bobbing up and down. It was a dog, so I started screaming, ‘There’s a dog in the water!’ ” said avid kayaker and pet lover Joseph Scarpetta, 26, to The Post.
“Immediately, I recognized the dog. … I had seen fliers all over the place for this dog,” he said.
Scarpetta raced toward Chili and shouted for other nearby kayakers to help lift the dog out of the water.
“It was literally the most devastating, sad visual ever,” he said. “The best way that I can explain it — this is kind of morbid — but you know this scene from ‘Titanic’ where Rose is letting go of Jack and Jack is drifting under the water? That’s what was going on.
“This dog clearly didn’t know how to swim or tread water, so it couldn’t really get its head up, so it was just completely submerged like ten inches under the water.”
The currents were strong, and Chili was frightened, so it ultimately took four kayakers to yank the pooch into the boat and take him back to shore — where he was soon reunited with Porter.
His owners rushed him to a vet center, where workers ruled he was healthy but severely malnourished and dehydrated and likely had barely eaten during his 10 days on the lam. They had to cut sections of his fur where the oil was so saturated.
It’s not clear where Chili had spent all of his days on the loose. Calistro believes he hunkered down under a pier until he was somehow taken out to sea. Scarpetta wonders if Chili slipped over the pier edge through the large holes in the fencing — which he says poses a safety hazard to small children, as well.
Either way, his rescue has drawn comparisons to the original “Miracle on the Hudson,” when US Airways Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger made a successful emergency landing of an Airbus on the river in January 2009, 42nd Street said.
As for Chili, he is now as happy and friendly as ever, though a few pounds lighter, and has apparently lost his penchant for leash pulling.
Porter and Calistro bought Chili a new, tighter harness, anyway — just in case.
English (US)