The heartwarming reunion of a blind man's missing support dog in Chicago

A 14-year-old emotional support dog named Bam Bam was reunited with his owner Tuesday night, two months after the dog was reported stolen from his backyard in Chicago. The theft prompted a massive citywide search, a police investigation and a fundraiser that amassed more than $20,000.

Bam Bam’s owner Angel Santiago, who has glaucoma and is legally blind, said the 10 weeks that Bam Bam was gone were particularly hard because his dog is key to his independence. The two have been companions for more than a decade.

“I slept next to him last night,” Santiago told The Washington Post on Wednesday after Bam Bam was back home. “I didn’t want him to think I had walked away.”

After Bam Bam went missing, Santiago said he would walk for miles a day, calling his dog’s name and passing out fliers. When neighbors heard him calling for Bam Bam, they jumped in to help Santiago file a police report and spread the word.

“People would come up to me and ask me why I was screaming ‘Bam Bam,’” he said. “When I told them what was happening, they would help me.”

Santiago said Bam Bam was grabbed by two people who came into his yard and made off with him on June 5 while the dog was out for an early morning bathroom break. Santiago said he never lost hope or stopped searching for Bam Bam.

“Bam Bam was out there,” Santiago said.

Amy Pasalich, a NICU nurse in Chicago, said she saw Bam Bam’s story after someone posted it on TikTok. She started a Facebook group and a GoFundMe page in early August with Santiago’s blessing, hoping to raise a few thousand dollars to hire a private investigator. She was stunned to see $20,000 pour in. An unrelated Change.org petition collected more than 2,200 signatures to demand more action from the city to help Santiago find Bam Bam.

“I think so many people are animal lovers and have bigger hearts than we realize,” Pasalich said.

Local news reported on the case, and people continued to post on social media. Volunteers fanned out across the city, passing out fliers and searching for the senior dog.

Then on Tuesday at 8 p.m., two people dropped off the dog at the 16th District police station, Chicago police said. They didn’t leave their names or identifying information about themselves but told police they had found the dog nearby.

The police contacted John Garrido, a retired officer who founded the Garrido Stray Rescue Foundation with his wife. Officers generally contact Garrido when they get a stray dog at the station, so they sent a picture of the small dachshund mix, which Garrido quickly posted on his rescue’s Facebook page.

Comments rolled in: “This dog looks like Bam Bam????”

The dog had a microchip, and when police scanned it, a phone number popped up. The officer Googled the phone number and found Santiago’s original flier, quickly sending the information to Garrido.

“I immediately called the station,” Garrido said. “The whole city has been looking for this dog for the last two months.”

An officer contacted Santiago, and by 9:31 p.m. Santiago and Bam Bam had been reunited, police said. After many hugs and a night’s sleep, Santiago took Bam Bam to the vet for a checkup, bloodwork and nail trimming.

Detectives have not made any arrests in the case and said they are still investigating.

“This particular case really tugged at our heartstrings,” said Daphna Nachminovitch, senior vice president of cruelty investigations at the animal rights group PETA. “An older dog with a very special relationship with his guardian - needless to say, we were moved.”

PETA offered a $5,000 reward for any information leading to the dog’s safe return. The group was planning to launch several billboards in Chicago to help with the search - but now that Bam Bam has been found, they’ve converted them to say thank you to the city.

“I spoke with Angel a couple of days ago, and it was very clear that the absence of this dog was really impacting him. I think returning this dog might have saved them both,” Nachminovitch said.

She learned on Wednesday that Bam Bam, who she called a “small older gentleman,” had been reunited with his human.

“Waking up to that news this morning was honestly the best thing ever,” she said.

Garrido said, for him, this story has two takeaways: Get your pet microchipped, and don’t mess with Chicago.

“We don’t mess around here,” Garrido said. “We love our pets.”