Highway Husky home safe after I-195 adventure

Aug 15, 2019

Nymera the husky is an escape artist at only nine months old. 

On Thursday morning she managed to squeeze out of a second-story window through an air conditioner gap, jump down to the ground, and follow her owner’s car on I-195 all the way from Acushnet Avenue in New Bedford to Faunce Corner Road in Dartmouth.

“She surprises me every day,” said owner Leslie Schipper, who has had Nymera since the pup was six weeks old. “I have no idea how she did it.”

When Schipper left to go to work at Faunce Corner and Cross Road, said Dartmouth Animal Control Officer Stacy Hardy, the husky “decided she wanted to go too.”

Hardy helped state troopers follow the frightened animal, herding her off the highway and out of danger.

The officers managed to get in contact with Schipper’s husband, Shayne Medeiros, who had called animal control after returning home from dropping his wife at work to find their dog missing.

Nymera ended up hiding under a car in a parking lot on Faunce Corner Road just two blocks from where Schipper works. 

“She was terrified,” said Schipper.

After getting her out, Medeiros took her to the vet, who confirmed that the husky was uninjured aside from paws that were a little raw from pounding the asphalt.

“Thank God the state troopers were there,” said Schipper, who said that she didn’t know what was happening until she listened to her husband’s messages on her lunch break.

“I was a nervous wreck at work after that,” she said, adding that when she got home, “I just kind of squeezed her to death.”

Schipper noted that from now on, they will be careful to ensure that the pup has full run of the house — but less access to windows.

“At least it’s a good story,” laughed Hardy. “I’m so sick of the bad stories!”

Nymera’s owner is just glad that she’s ok. 

Said Schipper, “I don’t know what I would do without her.”