The Dog Files wishes Casper a full and quick recovery… and a bunch of treats!

Kenn Bell
Dog Files Creator

New York, New York – When Casper the golden retriever was hit by a cab in Central Park while on a walk with his owner, the cab didn’t stop. But dozens of passersby did, and Casper’s owner, MaryBeth, is grateful.

Casper and MaryBeth, who is 9 months pregnant, were on their daily walk on August 7 when Casper, who was legally off-leash, was distracted and ran across a road. It happened so quickly that MaryBeth could do nothing to stop him, even though she could see that two cabs were headed straight toward the dog. She watched in horror as one of them struck Casper so hard that he traveled another 20 feet before coming to rest in the roadway.

There were many eyewitnesses to the incident who did stop to offer aid, including Central Park Conservancy employee Maria Hernandez, who also took Casper and MaryBeth to a nearby animal hospital in her own vehicle.

In an email to the Central Park Conservancy, MaryBeth praises Hernandez and the others who offered aid: “I’m extremely grateful for all the help that Casper and I did receive from all of the good Samaritans. People gave him water, someone gave me a healing coin to place on point of impact, two strong individuals helped carry Casper into Maria’s SUV who then drove me to the vet, someone named Rachel even called my husband as I was unable to talk.”

Casper was taken to Animal General Hospital, were it was discovered that, miraculously, suffered no life-threatening injuries. He had contusions on his lungs, but had no broken bones and will recover completely. MaryBeth is very glad that Casper will be around to be a “big brother” to her new baby.

“I find it so heart warming that people have been concerned,” she says. When something like this happens, you just feel like things are crumbling around you. It’s nice to know that a lot of people care.”

MaryBeth does feel some responsibility for what happened. While it was perfectly legal for Casper to be off-leash (dogs are not required to be on a leash in that area from 5:00 am to 9:00 am), she says feels terrible that she “put Casper in a situation in which he was injured… As a dog owner, I know that I take a risk having Casper off leash but I always try to be as responsible as possible… Even though Casper is a well behaved, obedient dog, this was a wake up call that Casper is still an animal and therefore can be unpredictable.”

One hopes that the driver of the cab, and any passenger he may have had who did not insist that the driver stop, will also learn a lesson from this incident. CPC employee Hernandez managed to get the license plate number of the cab, and MaryBeth did report the incident to the NYPD.

Story by Mikki Hooven