A police wildlife officer says nine-year-old black Labrador Bessie is only alive because of the wet British summer – and if the predicted hot weather had arrived she would have died. It is believed the live catch cage trap, found at the bottom of a deep-sided valley in farmland, was laid with bait to catch a fox.
Twenty-four days after Bessie went missing on July 9, police said a man out walking heard noises he believed were coming from a dog. He discovered Bessie trapped in the cage. Bessie's owners, Dave and Donna Gornall and their daughters Olivia, six, and five-year-old Katie, had been desperately searching for their pet and had put up appeals for information around the area.
Photo from here.
Donna said the family was "overjoyed" to have her back after receiving a phone call informing them of the discovery. She added: "I realise foxes have to be caught and I have no problem with that, but they deserve to die humanely. They don't deserve to starve for three-and-a-half weeks.
"These traps are supposed to be checked every 24 hours by law. The fact that it had not been checked for three-and-a-half weeks is just ridiculous. I would not like anyone else to go through what we have gone through."
Despite being found underweight, covered in leg sores and having lost some of her fur from rubbing up against the cage, Bessie is now eating, drinking and on the mend.
Update: There's a news video here.
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