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Family reunited with beloved pit bull one year after tragedy separates them

Filled with grief, Jada's former owner, Deborah Warren, regretfully surrendered her to a shelter in Louisiana after the passing of her husband.

COVINGTON, La. — It had been a year since a family saw their beloved pit bull, Jada. They didn't believe she was still alive until they came across a Facebook post from the Northshore Humane Society asking if someone would adopt her. Finally on Monday, the family and dog were reunited. 

Filled with grief, Jada's former owner, Deborah Warren, regretfully surrendered her to a shelter in Plaquemines Parish after the passing of her husband.

"I regretted it everyday," Warren said. 

Shortly after, that shelter closed and the family, including warren's son Josh LaBarge, believed Jada was put down.

"Shortly after that shelter was going to close its doors and usually that means euthanizing, especially the pit mixes like Jada," said Alex Coogan, Rescue Manager at Northshore Humane Society.

What the family didn't know was the Northshore Humane Society had taken her in, trying to find her a home ever since. 

"We just didn't get any interest in her so we're like okay, we need to do another post on her," Coogan said. 

Finally, the post made it's way to Jada's former extended family.

"I said 'oh my God, it's her' and we bust out crying," Warren said. 

They realized Jada was in fact alive and in need of a home.

"I said 'we're going to get her,'' LaBarge said.  

Now one year later, Jada is welcomed back into her family. 

"You want to go home? Want to go home?" Warren said to Jada as she pet her.

LaBarge and his family drove to the Northshore Humane Society Monday to adopt her and bring her back home to Venice. It's a reunion the family never expected, giving Jada a home once again. 

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