'We just wish he would come home.' Couple offers $100 reward for missing pet prairie dog

A Liberty Township resident is asking neighbors to help find her lost pet, but it's not a dog or cat. It's a 2-year-old prairie dog named Gus.

Gus has been missing since June 20, his owner Keli Morrison told The Enquirer. Morrison said he likely escaped her home, near the Hamilton-Mason Road and Liberty-Fairfield Road roundabout, when she was taking out the trash.

Morrison raises and rehabilitates wildlife, like squirrels and rabbits, at her home through Nature Nurses Wildlife Rescue , a wildlife rescue-and-release group serving southwest Ohio.

A landlord in Blue Ash called Nature Nurses Wildlife Rescue about an abandoned pet prairie dog in May 2023, Morrison said. A family had vacated the home, leaving behind their belongings and Gus.

Morrison said Gus had been left in a dog cage with an avocado, apple and spinach – all foods prairie dogs don't eat. His cage also didn't have proper absorbent material, so he was covered in urine.

Morrison and her husband, Jeff, agreed to take in Gus. They bought him a proper cage and wheel to run on, took him on walks using a harness and fed him hay, pellets and sweet potato.

At first, the couple wasn't sure they would be able to take care of him. But he quickly became a member of the family.

"We just kept falling in love with him," Morrison said.

Social media users unite to help find Gus

Morrison turned to social media when she realized Gus was lost. A Facebook post about the missing prairie dog and $100 reward got over 300 shares. Morrison also shared the news on Gus' dedicated TikTok account , which has over 1,200 followers.

Morrison also passed out flyers, put Gus' food and cage outside to lure him home and even contacted an animal psychic, who said he was still alive.

Gus' supporters donated money so Morrison could hire Reaves Recovery and Rescue , a Cincinnati-based company that finds missing pets using thermal drone technology. The company searched for Gus, a service that cost $350, on June 22, but did not find him.

'We just wish he would come home'

Morrison isn't giving up hope.

"I just need the neighbors to help keep an eye out and keep reporting if they have a sighting," she said.

Prairie dogs live in the western United States, but are not native to Ohio. The creatures weigh 2 to 3 pounds, roughly the same size as a rabbit, and are much smaller than 10- to-15-pound groundhogs.

Gus is neutered, so he will not pose a threat to native animals, Morrison said.

In the wild, prairie dogs don't wander far from their underground tunnel homes.

"If he is alive, I don't think he's very far," Morrison said. "He may just be living under a shed or some other structure."

Morrison is asking anyone who sees Gus to email a photo to kelimorrison111@gmail.com or reach out to her on Facebook .

"We just wish he would come home," she said.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: 'We just wish he would come home.' Couple offers $100 reward for missing pet prairie dog