“Simon Viper” — a deaf and blind, 16-year-old dog — was found by Vandegrift photography students and rescued by a Viper mom before being reunited with his family.
By LINNEA KENNEDY
Vandegrift Voice
Wandering alone through the forest at night is scary enough for a dog, but especially so for Simon, who isn’t an ordinary pup. Simon is deaf and blind, meaning that when he wandered away from his family on a camping trip over Thanksgiving, he was unable to hear their calls and find his way back. Simon was found on the Vandegrift campus on Nov. 28 in a drainage ditch when a photography class stumbled upon him.
“Evidently, the cross country team saw the dog and they thought it was injured on Monday,” said Tara Stewart, assistant principal at VHS. “Animal control was called out, but they didn’t find any dog. Then on Tuesday (Nov. 29), a photography class went out to take pictures and they saw the dog, so a couple of people came up to the office and because when I hear ‘dog’ I come running, I went out there with them. I have two rescue dogs of my own – one with only three legs – at home.”
