Golden Cocker Missing In Ballarat

[Leah82]

Is anyone in the Ballarat area able to help with a missing cocker spaniel.

She's a former puppy farm dog and only been in her new home for a few weeks, she did a runner when her owner was leaving for work on Wednesday in East Ballarat. There have been a number of sightings near Ballarat uni but she's too scared to let anyone get close, I suspect those searching are getting increasingly desperate which is making her even more scared so she keeps moving further and further away.

Details are here:

https://www.facebook.com/bringangelcockerspanielhome?fref=ts

[Two Best Dogs!]

I saw her post in Facebook. Poor pup, it's my worst nightmare. It's heartening seeing such a dedicated hunt going on. Many hours out of my way

[HazyWal]

Oh no I'm a long way from Ballarat or I would be out helping with the search, I've done it many times before.

I'll share on FB.

[RuralPug]

One of our local rescuers led a search last night where the cocker had been sighted lunchtime yesterday, but sadly no sign of her. She might have been shy and hidden there or she might have moved already to another location.

Searches will continue if further sightings are reported.

[Two Best Dogs!]

Thought you'd all like to know that after 12 days of running scared, over 150km, they just caught Angel and she is now home!

Check the Facebook group in first post for reunion pictures :) and what an amazing search and rescue that community did.

Edited August 2, 2015 by Thistle the dog

[Tassie]

Oh how wonderful What a great good news story.

[Purdie]

Great news !!

[mita]

I love this entry on the FB page. Gary is a true hero!

We need to thank Gary who has been out searching day and night since Angel went missing and who never gave up. It was Gary's beautiful calm energy and his refusal to let go despite one very scared little girl latching onto his nose and arm that enabled him to catch Angel safely today and we owe him the world.

Edited August 3, 2015 by mita

[Two Best Dogs!]

Here's the story of how they caught her - hopefully helpful for anyone else needing to organise a similar hunt if the unfortunate happens

You asked, we answered: The Story of Angel's Rescue.

Day 11 and we were all trying to stay strong and not lose hope despite the odds that seemed to be perpetually stacked against Angel and our ability to reach her in time. The weather seemed to be worsening by the day, the mornings hovering around -3 and lately thick frost had been setting in.

There was so much to worry about- Angel’s ability to survive the elements- the weather, the terrain- she had on a number of occasions been sighted running in heavily forested areas thick with bracken. When out, she tended to be seen running along/on Midland Highway and we worried that as she became weary from exhaustion her road sense may diminish. More alarmingly, the sightings seemed to be becoming fewer and far between, despite all our efforts to canvas the surrounding areas of each reported sighting. The word was getting out- everyone we came across and everywhere we went people knew Angel’s plight and were rooting for her, but she was being seen less and less.

It’s also incredibly difficult to comprehend just how many kilometres this little girl had clocked. Based on the sightings, Angel had covered at least 60km since she first went missing, probably far more. With the sightings becoming less and less frequent, we were flying blind, chasing our tails, always several steps behind. All we had to go on was supposition and gut feeling and hope. Any time we got a tip off we would all rush to the area, formulate a plan and then split up, only to spend hours driving around, through pine forests, endless farm land and countless towns where literally any and every area could hide an army unseen let alone a small dog. Each day we would tell ourselves and each other that today would be the day and each night we would reluctantly leave the area as night fell, disheartened and devastated to be leaving her out there.

By Sunday, it had been over 48 hours since Angel had last been seen. Further concerning, the sightings that had come in on Thursday seemed to indicate that both couldn’t be accurate given the distance she would have had to cover. Given that none of us had seen her ourselves in that time it was impossible to determine if the tipoffs were genuine but they were all we had to go on. We had spent that time doing letterbox drops in the surrounding areas, driving around main roads, side streets, through the forest and speaking to everyone we happened upon, but nothing.

Each morning by 5am at least one of us would be out driving around the relevant areas, putting up posters and strategizing about how best to proceed when there was so little to go on.

Sunday morning, 8am a call came through that Angel had been spotted on Midland Highway between Elaine and Meredith. We all jumped in our cars but as usual, she had eluded us- within minutes of the sighting she had literally disappeared. We spent the rest of the day as we had spent each day before that, concentrating on that area and the next ones along, searching, searching, searching. At 3:30, we had to call it a day and reluctantly agreed that until we had more to go on, there was nothing else we could achieve. Some of us had to go back to Melbourne, to return to the lives we’d put on hold to search for this precious little girl, but promised to be on call as soon as any sighting came through. As we turned onto the freeway towards Melbourne- we got the call that would change everything and turned around. Angel had just been sighted in Elaine, back where we had searched all day and the day before. A couple from out of town had seen her sprinting through the Rec Reserve but lost sight of her. By chance they stopped in the general store, saw the poster and called us immediately.

And so we rushed back, eight people strong but very aware that catching her was an impossibility and the best we could hope for was to be able to get an idea of where she was frequenting so we could set up a long term plan. G believed that she would head along the train line and parked there, and within minutes had her in sight. As expected, she spooked when she saw the car and ran straight for the bush and surrounding farmland and so we all split up so as not to lose sight of her again.

With three of us in the paddock with her, Angel was running scared and looking for an escape route. Three stayed along the fence line, attempting to block her from running in that direction. The rest were driving, trying to keep eyes on the surrounding paddocks as she moves incredibly fast and we needed to ensure we kept sight of which direction she headed in. As luck would have it, the right person was in that paddock with her, a man who had been out day and night looking for her since this began. His calm energy was exactly what Angel needed and as she ran out into the middle of the paddock, away from what she perceived as the other, more immediate threats, he dropped to his knees and sat quietly. Amazingly, Angel began to approach, tentatively and timidly. As she got closer, he began to throw treats in her direction, drawing her in. The second she was within reach, he grabbed her collar and pounced on her, causing her to snap in terror and latch onto his nose. Thankfully there was no pain that would have caused him to loosen his hold on her, and luckily the others were there within minutes to help get her safely into the net and calm her. They sat and talked softly to her and fed her treats for a little while, and then slowly carried her across the paddock, with some holding her from below, some from above, some holding the net and others still holding the lead. No one was chancing another escape, we were all aware that we would never catch her again if she got loose. By this point Angel was calm, and as we got in the car she looked visibly relieved and fell straight asleep, resigned to the fact she had been caught and perhaps starting to realise she was safe and warm and there would be no more running.

There wasn’t a dry eye in that paddock, particularly when we called Arun to let him know his little girl was safe. It was then time to rush her to the vet whilst the rest of us went to the hospital to ensure Gary had his nose seen to immediately. Thankfully, both Angel and Gary got the all clear (although Gary’s looking a little worse for wear) and the reunion between Arun, Czar and Angel was truly one of the most heart-warming moments any of us had ever witnessed.

This story is so beautifully unique, mostly because of how strong this little girl is to have endured what she no doubt encountered during her time on the run but also because it demonstrates how much can be achieved when people band together to achieve something worthwhile. We want to thank so many people, too many to name individually but from the bottom of our hearts we thank you. Thank you for caring, for helping, whether from afar with words of support, with donations to help fund the search, with invaluable contacts, or on the ground, where we so desperately needed numbers and had so many of you hear our call and come running without complaint. To the people of Ballarat, of Elaine, of Meredith and further afield- thank you for listening, for agreeing to put flyers up, to keep your eyes peeled, for offering motel rooms and amenities and photocopying. There are good people in the world, and we have one incredibly brave little girl, now sleeping soundly for probably the first time in almost a fortnight to show for it. We have made lifelong friends and had our faith restored and that’s testament to the bravery of one little rescue dog, and the hearts she touched along the way.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Wonderful people!