Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 19, 1995 TAG: 9501190081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 VIRGINIA EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Take Duke, the stray dog who has roamed near the East Coast Oil gas station and convenience store on Orange Avenue in Northeast Roanoke for nearly two years, eluding animal-control officers, dodging traffic and generally living carefree.
Since a story about him appeared in this newspaper several weeks ago, he's become a celebrity of sorts. He seems to have developed a fan club.
Andrea Reedy, East Coast's assistant manager, said people drop by, not to buy gas or soft drinks, but to ask about "that famous dog."
"People really care about this dog," Reedy said. "They want this dog kept alive."
Customers leave a few dollars to help cover the cost of Duke's food, mostly hot dogs that employees set out for him twice a day. Employees keep the donations in an envelope in the store safe. The Duke Foundation, they call it.
"The money's to go for food and any expenses we put toward Duke," Reedy said. "We tried to buy him canned food, but he won't touch it. And he won't eat hot dogs in the morning anymore. Only Jimmy Dean sausages."
Authorities continue their pursuit of Duke. Roanoke animal-control officers have set a few traps on a hill across the street from East Coast - cages baited with food. Duke won't go near them, Reedy said.
Al Alexander, executive director of the Roanoke Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter, said he has a list of people who want to adopt Duke. The SPCA would be happy to let one of them have him - if they could catch him, Alexander said.
"We want to help that little guy," he said. "He's just a friendly little guy who don't bother nobody. Except sooner or later the poor little guy's luck's going to run out."
East Coast employees, still afraid that authorities might put him to sleep, would prefer to catch Duke themselves. A customer has offered to ask her father-in-law, who is a veterinarian, to help the employees catch Duke, Reedy said.
One person has provided information about Duke's past. A truck driver came into East Coast on Wednesday. He'd read the story and recognized Duke as the dog someone abandoned nearly two years ago near his auto mechanic's shop.
"He said the dog had been beaten terribly," Reedy said. The dog's ``collar was so tight it cut into his throat. And the collar said the dog's name was `Spot.'''
The man told Reedy that the dog would not come near adults but that he would play with his little girl, Reedy said. He was a tame, loving dog, but was terrified of most people, the man told her.
"He said he hadn't seen the dog for over a year and a half," Reedy said. "But he was going to bring his little girl out here to see if the dog would come to her."
Reedy did not get the man's name, where he lived or where his mechanic's shop was. The man told her he would return in the next month or so, she said.
Wednesday, East Coast employees tried calling the dog by his given name - Spot.
"He turned around and looked at us," cashier Becky Carter said. "We're going to try to call him `Spot' the rest of week to see if he'll respond to us."
But to Carter, the dog just doesn't look like a "Spot," despite the black markings on his white fur.
"That doesn't make any difference," she said. "He'll always be Duke to me."
by CNB