A GREYHOUND on the brink of death has been given a new lease of life thanks to a Beverley woman and a local charity. Angel, a four-year-old Saluki/Greyhound, spent over three weeks sleeping in the snow and fending for herself during one of the worst winters in recent history.
Rescued from the brink- Now needs home
Now, Angel, who has been fostered by Beverley’s Susan Brown and was helped on the road to recovery by the East Yorkshire Retired Greyhounds Trust, has received a special award in recognition of her bravery.
She was awarded the Daisy Trophy Award at the recent 136th Driffield Show. Angel was spotted by dog walkers in open ?elds near the village of Thorngumbald last November, in the midst of one of UK’s coldest winters.
The dog warden was contacted but after several failed attempts to catch her villagers rallied round and took it in turns to look out for the dog as concerns grew amid freezing temperatures and heavy snow.
Mrs Brown said: “Week after week they tried to ?nd out where she was hiding and eventually found her in an abandoned garden.
“She had scraped away the snow and made a bed of grass cuttings under a tree, she was also sometimes found hiding under an old decking area.
“She didn’t trust people and ran away as soon as they got close to her, so day by day the villagers put clean, dry bedding down for her and left her some food.”
After three weeks, and the dog appearing to be getting thinner, the charity Dogs Lost was contacted and help arrived in the form of a couple who braved the weather to travel from Barnsley. They set a cage trap and within hours the dog had been caught.
“And just in time as she was on the brink of collapsing through starvation, exhaustion and hypothermia,” said Sue.
“She was taken promptly to a lovely heated kennel to rest overnight but everyone thought she wouldn’t survive due to her sheer exhaustion.”
“She was very thin, covered in scars, had lots of infected tic bites, a broken tail and was showing signs of having been beaten. The vet said another night in the snow would have ?nished her,” she added.
Wins Award for Bravery and Survival Skills
The walkers who had ?rst spotted the dog named her Angel because Sue said they felt they had saved a fallen angel at Christmas time. Now her bravery and endurance of survival has been of?cially recognised with the Daisy Trophy Award.
“It’s absolutely amazing. It’s a recognition of what she has actually endured and gone through because a lot of these rescue dogs get re-homed and get forgotten so it’s highlighting the plight of greyhounds and damaged dogs.”
David Oliver, of East Yorkshire Retired Greyhounds Trust, said dogs like Angel are often left behind when poachers are caught.
“They’re more concerned about getting away, so they just leave the dogs,” he said.
The Trust works to re-home Greyhounds that have been retired from racing or abandoned like Angel. The charity is still fundraising for Angel and if anyone would like to offer their support for her or any other Greyhound they are asked to telephone 01482 503944.
