Good Samaritans credited with saving runaway dog in Batavia

Picture it: The Fourth of July, temperatures cooling into the upper 70s by about 9 p.m., fireworks displays going full force.

A terrified little dog with a garbage bag stuck to its body with duct tape is about to run into traffic on South Kirk Road near Fermilab in Batavia, when a trio of good Samaritans come to the rescue.

Hailey Conran and her wife, Brianna, of St. Charles, were on their way home from a family gathering in Oak Brook when they saw a pickup truck stopped in the right lane of Kirk Road, Hailey said.

“So then I started to slow down to get into the other lane and as I was about to, my wife said, ‘Stop! Stop! Stop! There’s a dog!’” Hailey Conran said.

Instead of passing the truck, they stopped and watched as a little gray dog with something wrapped around him was on the edge of a field along the road. Then the dog started to dart into traffic.

“We both jumped out of the car. The guy in the pickup was running after it,” Hailey Conran said. “The guy was saying, ‘I’m trying to get this dog. It’s not my dog.’ As we were trying to get it, it would stay by the curb and field. Every time we tried to get near, it would dart into traffic.”

As they tried to corral the dog, it ran underneath the Conrans’ car near the exhaust pipe.

“Me, my wife and the other good Samaritan from the pickup truck were all trying to help grab him from underneath there,” Hailey said. “I grabbed the bag and pulled him out. I was yanking it hard. It was firmly attached to him. As I was grabbing him, he bit me twice on both hands and I let go.”

The pickup guy said he had welding gloves in his truck. He put them on and tried to grab the dog, but it bit him in the arm instead.

A Batavia police officer arrived, followed by paramedics and Batavia firefighters. The dog stopped fighting and allowed itself to be picked up.

“I think it was just exhausted,” Hailey said.

Because the dog did not have a chip to show it had been vaccinated, Hailey is undergoing preventive rabies treatment.

“It’s pretty terrible,” Hailey said. “They inject a shot into the six bites on my fingers and shoot it into different parts of muscles.”

Hailey and Brianna Conran own On Point Nails, at 328 S. Third St., Geneva. Despite her bitten fingers, Hailey said she is still able to work.

Kane County Animal Control Director Brett Youngsteadt said the dog’s owner was notified through social media about his dog and came in Monday to get him.

The owner, a resident of North Aurora, told them his dog got scared by fireworks Friday and took off, Youngsteadt said.

“The dog is completely healthy with no scars, no signs of abuse,” Youngsteadt said. “When he saw his owner, he became electric, he lit up. We did not see any signs of abuse, such as the dog cowering or turning to hide.”

While the rescuers thought the dog had been wrapped in garbage bags and dumped, Youngsteadt said he has seen dogs terrified of fireworks run through all kinds of things.

Youngsteadt said he was sorry the rescuers were bitten.

“We do always appreciate citizens’ help,” he said.

And the dog’s name? Suzi. He’s a boy named Suzi.