1 day ago
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An adventurous dog who went missing for 36 days and covered about 100 miles before swimming to an island, has returned from her extended walkies after being rescued by a passing ferry.
Amber, a five-year-old retriever cross, had been rescued as a street puppy in Qatar by a charity and moved to the UK but went missing after only one night with her new foster family near Bramshaw, in the New Forest.
The dog went missing on 25 April, and for the next 36 days went on an adventure across Hampshire and Dorset, even swimming to an island, before she was rescued.
There were 63 reported sightings of her in the New Forest national park and food stations and cameras were set up to try to locate her.
Amber walked in a south-westerly direction across the forest to the coast and ended up on Sandbanks in Poole, where she then doggy-paddled for a mile across Poole Harbour to reach Brownsea Island.
A resident on the sparsely populated island put out food every night after spotting the stray. After four days she attempted to swim back to the mainland and was seen by the crew of a passing ferry who thought she was a seal.
Crew mate Ethan Grant said: “I then realised it was a dog and thought ‘what’s that doing out there?’ You could see she was struggling so we thought we need to get her out otherwise she wouldn’t have made it.”
After five weeks of wandering, Amber was declared fit by a vet on her return. She had lost a significant amount of weight, and is being given extra meals before she can be considered for adoption.
She had been rescued as a street puppy in Qatar, where she spent most of her life in a shelter. She was brought to the UK by KS Angels Rescue, an organisation run by husband and wife team Sam Collins and Kelly Parker.
Parker said the dog had entered a “wild mindset” until Saturday’s rescue.
“We had a lot of well-meaning people and they really did try to help,” she said. “Unfortunately with a dog that is scared and has entered that wild mindset, with any people, she would have run.”
Every time the wanderer was spotted, she had covered another five or six miles (8km/9.6km), said Parker. “It’s been frustrating, we’ve felt like we were always behind her. It’s definitely been an experience I would rather not have again – but a happy ending.”
Parker said she hoped adventurous Amber would have a “calmer, more stable spirit” in future.
Collins said Amber had not had enough time to form bonds, and had bolted every time someone tried to help. “She was absolutely all over the place, she kept returning to where she went missing from and was moving in bigger and bigger circles,” he said.
“But then we had no sightings for a week before I got a call that she was on a boat. We know she entered the water at Sandbanks as we were sent a photo of her there. It is about a mile of swimming, which is just incredible.
“The boat crew spotted her struggling with the tide, she wasn’t going to make the swim back so they turned the boat around. She hooked her paws on to the ladder and one of the lads jumped into the water and helped her out.”
The family who had been fostering Amber said her travels had given them an anxious few weeks. Jess Wadsworth said she had no idea how Amber escaped as she had 8ft-high deer fencing installed.
“I still can’t quite believe [Amber is back],” she said. “We’ve lost a pet dog for two or three days. You think in those terms. I have never known a dog that travels that many miles and survives.”
Wadsworth added that Amber was in a remarkably good condition, given the length of her trip. “She’s already in really good nick compared to how long she had gone for. What a girl!”
Parker and Collins praised the response from people across Hampshire and Dorset who helped in the search for Amber, and said they were hopeful she would soon find a new home.
“The woman Amber befriended on Brownsea Island has already contacted us about adoption, so we are in talks with her,” said Parker.
