Jim Tierney & Angel Nieves

JIM TIERNEY: Founder, Two Tunnels Pet Recovery - New York, New York

After serving in the Marine Corps Reserves and earning a graduate degree from NYU, Jim eventually found himself walking dogs throughout Brooklyn. A chance conversation about lost dogs and witnessing the tragic death of a deer struck by a vehicle completely changed his life's direction. Shortly afterward, rescuing a helpless kitten trapped inside the suspension of a truck cemented what would become his calling. Largely self-taught through the Missing Animal Response Network and years of hands-on experience, Jim recently founded Two Tunnels Pet Recovery in 2025, a nonprofit dedicated to recovering lost pets throughout New York City, New Jersey, and the tri-state area. 

His philosophy is simple: frightened dogs don't think like family pets, they think like wild animals fighting to survive. Rather than encouraging owners to chase, call their name, Jim studies the animal's behavior, escape patterns, terrain, traffic flow, and to predict exactly where an animal will travel next. The first 24 to 48 hours are often the most critical window, when many dogs attempt to return to their homes before survival instincts kick in and it’s “fight or flight” time. 

While Jim's specialty is tracking lost animals, he has also become deeply involved in stolen dog investigations throughout New York. He recognizes that recovering stolen pets requires an entirely different strategy than tracking frightened animals. Instead of deploying traps and cameras, these investigations revolve around criminal behavior, surveillance footage, witness development, neighborhood intelligence, and experienced investigative work. Jim regularly partners with a former NYPD detective and licensed private investigator, Angel Nieves, when cases require subpoena-level investigative expertise, access to surveillance footage, or criminal leads.

His cases reveal just how sophisticated dog theft has become. During one investigation, a beloved dog disappeared while its owner was hospitalized during COVID and was ultimately sold to support someone's drug addiction. After months of searching, the dog wasn't located until nearly a year later, when a veterinarian flagged conflicting vaccination records that led Jim and Angel directly to the animal. Jim has seen firsthand how valuable breeds are trafficked through underground networks, making many recoveries as much criminal investigations as animal rescues.

Jim has built a reputation for solving cases others consider impossible. He recovered a Shiba Inu named Guy after identifying what everyone else dismissed as a blurry reflection in security footage, ultimately proving the dog had been trapped inside a food processing plant for days. He tracked Goldilocks, a Goldendoodle repeatedly crossing the New Jersey Turnpike, by predicting the exact creek crossing she continued to use. He rescued a starving dog that escaped onto Newark Airport's tarmac after spending three weeks sleeping in his vehicle while monitoring cameras around the clock. Another unforgettable rescue required cutting through a locked fence with bolt cutters before convincing responding police officers to assist in recovering an abandoned dog that now lives happily in the Hamptons. His nonprofit mascot, Bailey, survived an astonishing journey through Brooklyn Harbor, the Battery Tunnel, the Holland Tunnel, and ultimately into Hoboken before finally being recovered.

His recovery arsenal includes nearly twenty strategically placed trail cameras, multiple sizes of professional humane cage traps, thermal monoculars for nighttime searches, flexible endoscopes for inspecting confined spaces, and a custom-built thermal camera mounted beneath his truck that allows him to scan under parked vehicles without having to crawl underneath them.

He frequently collaborates with certified tracking dogs and thermal drone operators to locate animals hiding in difficult terrain. Perhaps most innovative is his growing use of AI to predict and provide analysis. His goal is to transform missing pet recovery from educated guesswork into a data-driven science.

ANGEL NIEVES: Licensed Private Investigator/"Your Pet Detective"/Retired NYPD

Angel Nieves spent twenty years with the New York Police Department investigating everything from drugs and to homicide before retiring as a decorated detective. Growing up between the Harlem projects and his father's farm in Puerto Rico, that gave him a lifelong respect for animals that would ultimately define the second chapter of his career. After leaving law enforcement, Angel realized that missing and stolen animals required many of the same investigative skills as homicide victims, and neither can speak to investigators. He has worked on more than 5,000 animal investigations across the United States and abroad. 

Angel rarely begins by searching for the animal. He begins by investigating the people.  Every case starts with interviews, reading body language, identifying their “tell” signs: when they are lying or telling the truth. He believes every witness knows something, even if they don't realize it, and typically sits quietly and lets the suspect keep talking and eventually the truth comes out. His investigative style is rooted in classic police work: knocking on doors, speaking with neighbors, interviewing building superintendents, reviewing surveillance footage, and carefully piecing together dozens of seemingly insignificant clues into one complete picture. While many investigators rely primarily on technology, Angel believes people remain the most valuable evidence.

His investigations reveal that dog theft is often motivated by far more than simple profit. Valuable breeds are stolen for illegal breeding operations, sold for drug money, trafficked across borders, gifted to family members, or quietly kept by individuals who convince themselves they've "rescued" the animal. His cases have included dogs stolen at gunpoint, breeding rings targeting French Bulldogs and Cavaliers, landlords unlawfully keeping entire litters after evictions, and organized trafficking operations spanning multiple states and the Canadian border. 

Among his most remarkable recoveries was tracing a stolen Yorkie using nothing more than an email address. Within thirty minutes he had identified the suspect's name, address, and photograph, leading police directly to the stolen dog. In another case, he recognized suspicious behavior from a sketchy man lingering near a stolen bulldog investigation. Bad guys typically return to the scene of the crime, and Angel studied him and brought in the police for the actual arrest. 

He has investigated missing birds, turtles, horses, and exotic wildlife while consulting internationally on rhinoceros horn trafficking, elephant ivory smuggling, and anti-poaching operations in Africa. 

Outside of people, his primary tools include smartphone-based investigative databases, digital background research, Ring doorbell footage, neighborhood surveillance systems, email tracing, open-source intelligence, and extensive witness interviews.

His partnership with tracker Jim Tierney creates a mighty combination. Angel follows the human trail while Jim follows the animal trail. Angel uncovers suspects, interviews witnesses, and develops investigative leads while Jim deploys cameras, tracking equipment, traps, and search technology.