Pet sleuth cracks pooch case

As an ordained minister, Kare Romanski is used to counseling grieving, anguished people.

But most of those who call upon Romanski don't want her to save their souls. It's their dogs. And cats. And horses.

Romanski, who lives in Charlotte, is also a pet detective, and her services are enlisted to help find what many consider a missing member of the family.

Amy Martin of Raleigh was grief-stricken and frantic when she called Romanski recently after Chelsea, Martin's 14-year-old miniature schnauzer, didn't return from answering nature's call.

After 30 minutes without a sign of Chelsea, Martin said, she started to get worried.

"We live on 2 acres, and I only had a flashlight, so we didn't want to go too deep into the woods," Martin said. "We searched the neighborhood, though."

Still no Chelsea. By 5 the next morning, she called the family's pet sitter, Dennis Money. He rushed right over to Martin's home off Creedmoor Road, about three miles north of Interstate 540, and started coordinating a search. Money also connected Martin with a missing animal advocate, who then hooked her up with Romanski, owner of Missing Pet Recovery Services.

A tearful plea

Martin placed a call.

"It didn't take the tears to make me come out," Romanski said. "I would've come even without the tears. She was literally calling me in hysterics."

Romanski quickly came from Charlotte with a German shepherd named Loyal to join the search.

"I get really concerned when I get a call from the Triangle because they have pet-testing labs there," she said. According to Romanski, some people ride around the Triangle in vans picking up cats and dogs for testing,.

A spokeswoman for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Wake County confirmed that such dognappings are not unheard of and were suspected in 2002, when several large dogs went missing from people's backyards.

Martin said Romanski helped calm her immediately.

"The first thing she did was confirm for me that her search dog didn't sense a dead animal," Martin said. "That renewed my hope."

Romanski's nonprofit company often searches for missing police dogs, family pets and "high-end show dogs," she said. One such dog she recovered was insured for $100,000.

Hundreds of pets found

She estimates that she has found hundreds of missing pets since starting the business 20 years ago. Last month, she joined the search for the kidnapped dog of NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip, although she credits the organization findtoto.com with that recovery.

Romanski's first case, she said, was helping a friend find a missing horse. She doesn't charge for her services and said she is the only nonprofit pet tracker she knows of in North Carolina.

She does ask for donations, though, to help cover costs, especially if one of her dogs is injured on a search. Romanski said she really needs donations now, with her house going into foreclosure.

Her Web site for donations or assistance is missingpetrecoveryservices.org.

Romanski's knowledge of the travel habits of missing animals -- "Dogs travel in a spiraling circle. ... Missing cats go linear" -- helps her reunite families with their pets.

A whiff of KFC ...

So do old-fashioned methods such as tranquilizers, traps and a strategically placed 10-piece bucket of KFC. The scent can travel a mile and a half and entice a hungry pet, she said.

Whatever methods Romanski uses, Martin is now a believer. After Romanski pinpointed an area about 200 yards from Martin's house, searchers scoured it.

"Even though we'd already searched it, we did it again," Romanski said.

That's where Chelsea was found, five days after going missing, at the bottom of a 5-foot-deep ravine.

"It was amazing, just amazing," Martin said. "There she was, just lying there, kind of trembling."

Chelsea had lost about a fifth of her body weight but was otherwise in good shape.

Martin, owner of Visiting Angels of Wake County, a company that provides in-home assistance to the sick and elderly, has a husband, two kids, a cat, gerbils and fish. Chelsea, though, holds a special place in her heart.

"She's an old, old dog that's as sweet as can be," Martin said, joy and relief still evident in her voice several days after Chelsea's return.