A YOUNG Springer Spaniel who went missing from a beach in West Cork was found 12km away, safe but a little hungry, 12 days later
A YOUNG Springer Spaniel who went missing from a beach in West Cork was found 12km away, safe but a little hungry, 12 days later.
Charlie, a three-and-a-half year-old spaniel, went missing during a walk with his owners on the Warren strand in Rosscarbery one recent Sunday afternoon.
Having searched the area around the beach and the dunes from 4.30pm until 8.30pm, Breda and Michael Cunningham from Skibbereen went home distraught.
They contacted neighbours, friends, The Southern Star, social media pages and local vets over the following days, continuing their searches of the Rosscarbery area.
But it wasn’t until the following Thursday week that they got some good news.
Breda said she got a call from a woman living in Ardfield to say a local man had spotted a springer spaniel on her land. He had tried to get close to the dog, but it had run away. Having seen the story in The Southern Star, and also a poster in his local vets, he contacted the vet in Clonakilty to say a dog matching Charlie’s description had been spotted.
Breda got a phone call then with the details of the farm where the dog was last seen.
‘The woman said we could walk her lands to look for him so we went over but there was no sign of him then. We called to the man to ask him to keep an eye out for the dog, but he said that we should look at one other house on the way home,’ Breda explained.
They stopped outside a house, but they weren’t even sure if it was the house that had been suggested, but as they got out of the car, to their complete shock, Charlie walked up to them.
‘He just walked up the road and let us put him in the car,’ said Breda. ‘He had lost a lot of weight and was hungry and thirsty.’ She said he was in good health otherwise and while his collar was still on, his ID tag was missing.
‘The first thing he did when he came in was get up on the couch,’ said Breda. The next morning he cleaned his bowl of food, and wanted more. ‘I don’t want to give him too much too quickly, but he is asleep on the couch now, ‘ said Breda, adding: ‘We will be very careful with him from now on, and he will be on the lead.’
