Soybean, the missing dog, is returned

Soybean with his owners and two members of the family who rescued him.

Silver Lake - The story of an elderly missing dog has a happy ending.

Soybean - a 16-year-old, deaf, one-eyed Boston terrier - has been returned to his owners, after he vanished in mid December in the wake of a vehicle break-in.

Despite having trouble walking and requiring medication, the dog somehow turned up all the way down in South Central, where the Morales family rescued him. This could mean the people who broke into the car took the dog with them, according to one of the owners, Clare Herron.

"We are assuming they took him in a car, because we can't imagine him walking that far," Herron said. "He is 16 and has a hard time even walking to the end of the block now."

The Moralesses found Soybean in an alley and took care of him before finding his identification tag, which had been concealed inside his harness, according to a statement on Go Fund Me from Soybean’s other owner, Esao Andrews.

The family refused the $5,000 reward which Soybean’s owners offered last month, Andrews said.

The dog vanished in the middle of December when Herron and Andrews, who live in Silver Lake, left him sleeping in their car at at Sunset and Occidental boulevards while they went into a restaurant. When they returned, a window of the car had been smashed, a laptop and other items had been stolen, and the dog was missing. Neighbors later told Herron that break-ins are frequent near that corner.

Missing posters of Soybean popped across Silver Lake, Echo Park and beyond as the couple frantically searched for their pet. 

"[Soybean] may have changed hands several times," Herron said. The police told her the crime was probably committed by someone in a car "who would eventually dump the dog on a street or in a shelter," she said. 

Since the Moralesses will not take the $5,000 reward for returning Soybean, the money is being donated to L.A. animal rescues and supporters, Andrews said. The Go Fund Me page has been set up for the rescuing family “to do as they wish,” Soybean’s owners said.

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