From phantom to family: the heartwarming story of Susan Badger's rescue

For months, a scruffy, nameless terrier lived as a phantom of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway—a 16-pound survivalist dodging high-speed traffic and outsmarting every professional who tried to save her. While commuters caught only fleeting glimpses of a black-and-white blur in the median, a dedicated crew of construction workers became her silent guardians, building her a custom insulated fortress to weather a brutal D.C. winter.

It took a community's patience, a Facebook tracking network, and the irresistible scent of Royal Farms fried chicken to finally bring "Susan Badger" in from the cold. Her journey from a construction site "burrow" to the literal queen of a suburban sofa, is a testament to the grit of a stray and the collective kindness of the strangers who refused to let her disappear.

Dozens of construction workers helped the terrier survive for more than two months while she dodged nearby traffic and endured a storm that brought 6 to 9 inches of snow to the D.C. area. During that period, the terrier outran drivers and outsmarted animal service officers who tried to catch her. The construction workers also couldn’t get close enough to capture her.

It wasn’t until late March, after a driver reported seeing the terrier on the side of the highway, that an Anne Arundel County woman trapped the dog. The terrier was covered in ticks and taken to Anne Arundel County Animal Services, where employees named her Susan Badger.

While Susan acclimated to the shelter, one construction worker who felt attached to the dog found out where she had been taken and visited her. That worker, who declined to give his name to a reporter, said it gave him joy to see Susan each day, and he was happy he helped her survive.

On Saturday, the driver who spotted Susan near the end of March - leading to her rescue - adopted the roughly 16-pound dog.

“The idea that we could be part of her story and give her a loving home, really, it made sense,” said Rob Mark, who’s now living with Susan in Ellicott City, Maryland.

While construction workers took care of Susan throughout the winter, people who spotted her as they drove along the busy parkway shared the dog’s location in a Facebook group dedicated to finding lost pets in Anne Arundel County.

“Small black and white terrier running up and down the median here,” a woman wrote in the group Jan. 12. “We tried catching it for an hour with no luck … unfortunately too busy and too fast to snap a picture. Animal services were called!” Susan proved elusive.

On March 26, however, Mark was driving near the Baltimore-Washington Parkway when he saw the dog watching traffic on the side of the highway. He texted the location to his wife, Jill-Ann Mark, who shared the update in the Facebook group.

“It seems far too unlikely to be the same dog,” Jill-Ann wrote, “but my husband just sent me the coordinates of a black and white dog.”

Donna Darling, a moderator of the Facebook group who said she has rescued hundreds of stray pets in Anne Arundel County, was shocked that the dog was alive.

“That’s just unheard of when a dog is on an interstate and stays safe - even for a few days,” Darling said.

Darling and Lexy Sweno, an animal behaviour assessor at Anne Arundel County Animal Services, set a trap near the construction site and lured the dog with fried chicken from a Royal Farms convenience store. When Sweno picked up the trapped dog on March 27, she said Susan was not microchipped.

At first, Susan growled at people with grunts that almost sounded like pig snorts, Sweno said. She tried to escape under gates and fences. But by her fourth day in the shelter, Susan lounged against Sweno on a sofa.

Meanwhile, the shelter searched for Susan’s new home. While the construction worker who visited Susan wasn’t ready to adopt, the Marks were looking for a third dog to join their family. They met Susan on Saturday and were enamored by her grunts.

“Both of us looked at each other like, ‘Well, I think this is a done deal,’” Jill-Ann said.

The den the construction workers built will continue to help animals. Sweno said she plans to repurpose it to catch feral cats.

Susan’s life is now filled with turkey-flavoured treats and scratches behind her ears - which she requests by gently headbutting her owners.

“The degree to which she has made herself comfortable is both heartwarming and hilarious to us,” Jill-Ann said, “because she just is already queen.”