By Elli Hodgson via SWNS
Footage shows the moment a missing dog was finally rescued – after she caused eight temporary motorway closures in 11 days.
Nicola Patterson, 33, received a call while on a trip to Majorca with her husband and two young children to say that her beloved dog Phoebe had gone missing.
The Welsh Springer Spaniel was being looked after by a friend in Bean, near Dartford, when she knocked the latch on the back gate and escaped from their garden.
After getting the dreaded news, owner Nicola immediately booked a flight for her and her seven-month-old baby.
She said: “I flew home – I didn’t sleep all of Tuesday night and on Wednesday I got a really late-night flight home for me and my baby.
“I got back to Stansted at around 2am on Thursday morning and managed to get home at 3am but I was out looking by 5am.”
Meanwhile, Nicola’s brother and his flat mate made it their mission to find Phoebe, sharing her pictures on social media to spread the word.
The Lost Dog Phoebe Facebook group would grow to more than 1,000 members in just two weeks following her initial disappearance on Tuesday, August 27.
Although there were sightings across Kent, it appeared Phoebe had crossed over the A2 on a footbridge and upon reaching some industrial units, panicked and ran away.
Nicola said: “Every time there had been a sighting they [her brother and friend] got there just after she’d gone.
“We didn’t really know where to start looking because we had people calling in saying ‘I think I’ve seen your dog’ and wherever it was, we would go.”
After hearing from National Highways about a report of a spaniel on the side of the A2, the road was temporarily closed for a check, but Phoebe was nowhere to be seen.
Throughout the search there was a team of around 15 people putting up posters.
There were many sightings around the A2, near the Darenth Interchange, including a call to the DogLost charity to say: “There’s a Spaniel on the hard shoulder”- but the owner was sure this wasn’t Phoebe from the picture.
Later Nicola was notified by a National Highways staff member that he could see Phoebe on the M25 above the embankment near the Darenth Interchange.
She was told they would do another rolling roadblock and she would have 12 minutes to go into the scrub and try and get her dog out.
The mum-of-two recalled: “Everyone says don’t approach your dog, don’t go near them, don’t shout, but I was being told to do that – so, I did and obviously she didn’t come, and I was scratched to pieces.
“And then all that pent up emotion of my dogs gone missing I just burst into tears, I couldn’t hold it together after that.”
In total, Phoebe’s disappearance led to eight temporary motorway closures across an 11-day period, reports KentOnline.
The next day, Lost Dog Recovery UK, set up a camera and food station in a nearby field but the six-year-old pooch, known for being timid, was nowhere to be seen.
By Thursday, September 5 —ten days into her disappearance — Nicki Scriven at Lost Dog Recovery rang National Highways and got permission to put five cameras on the embankment by the M25.
Nicola, who lives in Wrotham, said: “On Thursday evening we had a 30-minute road closure of the M25 at seven o’clock at night, which is ridiculous, which is mad.
“My dad was standing on the bridge with binoculars to check and see if he could see her running out of the embankment.”
Shortly before the closure was due to end, the owner thought she heard the tag of Phoebe’s collar, but with not enough time left, they had to leave.
She added: “But we’d got cameras up which meant if she was there, we would see her.”
The next day around 2pm, Nicki rang to say she had seen Phoebe: “I’ve seen her, I’ve seen her – she’s on the camera,” she exclaimed.
After sending through pictures Nicola confirmed it was definitely Phoebe and that same night, permission was granted to set out a dog trap.
She said: “We were told originally we would never get permission to do any of this because of where it was, but apparently highways are under animal welfare laws because she hadn’t eaten for 10 days at this point.”
The trap was set and Nicola’s dad bought some nice food to lure Phoebe, including a doner kebab and sausages – but the dog didn’t go back to it.
So, Nicki took her time sitting on the hard shoulder watching the Welsh Springer Spaniel eat all the other food that had been left out, while ignoring the expensive food.
On Saturday, September 7, National Highways suspended traffic again so a second trap could be set – and at around 11.20pm, Phoebe spent eight minutes circling the trap and walking away.
The video captures the moment she mustered the courage to step inside. Shortly after, Nicki’s van can be seen pulling up on the hard shoulder as she walks over to retrieve Phoebe.
Nicki said: “It was a massive relief, Phoebe had settled in the worst area ever, and now we had to get her off, plus two heavy traps and all our equipment.”
Another road closure followed as the team cleared up its gear.
At around 12.15am Nicola was reunited with her beloved dog, Phoebe after almost two weeks of turmoil.
Speaking of the reunion, she said: “They’d put the dog crate up to the back door and they undid it and she came flying in bouncing through the back door and she was so happy to see us.
“Apart from being skinny and a bit of skin missing from her pads, there was nothing else wrong with her.
“She was bouncing around like she’d just been out for a walk, not that she’d been missing for 11 days.
“That was my husband’s birthday – so it was like a birthday present that she’d come home.
“There was so much adrenaline that I couldn’t get to sleep for hours afterwards.”
Having mobilized an impressive team of volunteers, the following days were spent taking down the hundreds of posters across the county.
Contemplating the impact her disappearance had made, the owner said: “I can’t believe how much following she got and I don’t know what it was about our dog that captured people.
“We were getting messages from people all over the world who owned the same breed – maybe her breed is why she went so famous.
“Generally, everyone we spoke to was so helpful and the number of people who went out searching on their dog walks was incredible.”
Since Phoebe’s return, Nicola says the Welsh Springer Spaniel appears more confident and barks more but says it a “small price to pay” for having her home.
Lost Dog Recovery volunteer Nicki added: “The support and commitment from National Highways and the police has been incredible.
“They stopped traffic on several occasions to enable the cameras and trap set up, and adjustments as we monitored Phoebe’s movements and behavior and added a second trap – we cannot thank them enough.
“Many thanks to Phoebe’s owners for placing their trust in us to secure their beloved dog and to be everyone that helped.
“From the team at DogLost, Jenny and tracker dog Skippy, and the fabulous Hi-Viz coated Highways team and police.
“To everyone who shared Phoebe’s posts, called in sightings, put up posters and just supported a distraught family from afar, a multi-agency response -thank you.”
