A woman posted about her missing dog on social media, and now the internet is working to 'bring Hazel home'

Update: Hazel was found and returned to her owner on Friday morning. Her owner, Hannah Riley, posted about the reunion on X, formerly known as Twitter and thanked all the help she received in the process of finding Hazel.

"Lastly, truly, this saga has reaffirmed my love & faith in humanity," Riley wrote in a post. "From the bottom of my heart thank you all."

A woman’s search for her lost dog has inspired social media users to come to the rescue.

Hannah Riley, a writer and activist in DeKalb County, Ga., recently lost her dog, and many people on the internet — and in real life — are taking it upon themselves to help bring Hazel, a 10-year-old Papillon mix, back home.

On March 17, Riley (@hannahcrileyy) posted on X that her dog went missing while she was out of the country. Hazel was last seen at Saint Francis Veterinary Specialists and Emergency in Decatur, Ga.

The dog sitter Riley hired took Hazel there after the dog had eaten numerous Delta 8 gummies, which are a form of legal cannabis, according to Riley.

“Both the dog sitter and I are very upset, so not a lot of direct communication, but I know the sitter has been out searching absolutely tirelessly for Hazel,” Riley told Yahoo News. “She feels absolutely horrible.”

Thrive Healthcare, which owns Saint Francis Veterinary Specialists and Emergency, released a statement about the incident.

“We are deeply saddened by the incident that occurred at Saint Francis Veterinary Specialists and Emergency a few days ago,” Thrive Pet Healthcare said in a statement to Decaturish.com. “Our regional leadership is and has been in communication with Hazel’s family and remains supportive of the search.”

One in every three pets in the U.S. will turn up missing in their life, totaling approximately 10 million lost animals a year, according to the Animal Humane Society (AHS). AHS recommends having visible identification on the animal at all times, which wasn’t the case for Hazel — who only had on a hospital collar and a catheter when she allegedly “escaped” after being taken outside the facility.

Because Riley was out of town at the time, she asked for help from people in the area — providing a picture for a flier to find Hazel and giving instructions on what to do if they encountered the dog.

Several of Riley’s posts and PSAs about Hazel have received thousands of likes on X, but the support has gone further than simply acknowledging something on the timeline. People have volunteered to pass out fliers and visit local spots that Hazel would potentially visit.

In fact, some internet sleuths have already been prepping given all the rumors about the royal family and Kate Middleton’s whereabouts.

Riley’s pinned post on her account is a Google spreadsheet that covers in-person, online and over-the-phone outreach that volunteers have done. People can write their name and the date when they’ve reached out to a facility.

“Volunteers have been incredible,” Riley told Yahoo News. “Every house or business I've gone to with a flier about Hazel already had one! People have been out in the woods looking too. Just unreal generosity.”

In addition to coordinating volunteers on the ground, Riley has started a GoFundMe to expand her campaign to "bring Hazel home." Currently, donations are up to $9,431, drawing near the $10,000 goal.

“We are moving into a big public awareness campaign hoping that whoever might have Hazel sees it,” Riley wrote in an X post today. “We are going to need billboards and maybe other kinds of community advertising.”

Riley wrote in a subsequent post that if Hazel is found, Riley will donate any leftover funds to Atlanta Humane Society (@atlantahumane), where Hazel was adopted.