[Ananova]
A beagle which went missing in New York five years ago has turned up - more than 850 miles away.
A dog shelter in Hinesville, Georgia, was able to reunite Rocco with Natalie Villacis, now 11, and her family in Queens because of an identity microchip under his skin.
He went missing, slipping under a back garden fence, in the spring of 2003 and his distraught owners plastered the neighbourhood with posters, but without success.
Natalie said she kept her dog's favourite toy and never stopped wondering "what happened to Rocco, where he went and if someone good found him".
"Every time I would see a dog on the street, I would say to my mom, 'Maybe Rocco will come back'," Natalie said.
"She would say that he probably isn't going to come back. I would say, 'I know, but maybe he will'."
Natalie's parents, Jorge and Cristina, said they could not initially believe the voicemail message left by the animal shelter.
Mr Villacis found it difficult to recognise the dog when he flew to Georgia but he was reassured to see that - aside from a scar on his ear and being infested with fleas - he was healthy.
Randy Durrence, an Animal Control Supervisor in Hinesville, said Rocco was found walking down a road near Ford Stewart, a local army base.
He speculated that someone in the US military might have brought Rocco from New York to Georgia.