Tennessee Trooper Helps Dog Lost in Pouring Rain Get 'Home Safe'

A dog helped by a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper in the middle of a downpour on July 5 is safely home.

On July 7, Petworks Animal Services in Kingsport, Tenn., confirmed that the pup's owner reclaimed the dog – named Luna – after the state trooper rescued her. 

"Luna is home safe with her family," Petworks Animal Service said in a statement to News Channel 11 in Tennessee. "Trooper Willis said Friday that Luna's owner locating her was all he hoped for."

Trooper Lance Willis initially thought there was a car crash when he saw traffic slowing down in Kingsport during a downpour on July 5, but he soon found out the source of the delay was a dog wandering on the wet road.

"I looked like there was some kind of animal that was in the road," Willis said in a video posted on Facebook by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on July 6. "When I got close enough to see, there was a large dog that looked like a brown German shepherd in the opposite lane of traffic."

"I [turned on] my blue lights cause people usually slow down when they see the blue lights… and called into the radio so they knew where I was," he continued. "I got out and tried to usher the dog towards me."

"We like to focus on traffic safety… and sometimes, we even rescue dogs out of the roadway," Trooper Willis added.

Once Luna was in the car, Willis pulled into a parking lot nearby to wait for an animal control officer to take her to the shelter. He also told News Channel 11 that he saw Luna was wearing a collar" and hoped the dog's owner would see "the video so they would know their pet was found safe." 

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A video of Trooper Willis rescuing the dog was posted on TikTok on July 5 and captioned, "We need to make this human famous." As of July 8, the clip of Willis' act of kindness towards Luna has accumulated 2.5 million views on TikTok.