YOU’VE no doubt read about ‘Casper’ the lost rescue dog on social media, thanks to the efforts of volunteer Kylie Carlos.
Or you might have seen a poster of a rather fetchingly scruffy pooch answering to the name of Casper, lost in the Wonthaggi area back on May 31.
Well, happy days, Casper has been found!!!
So, how does a pet like Casper go missing, and why couldn’t he find his own way home.
Rescue dog carer and founder of the foster dog and dog adoption agency, New Beginnings Animal Rescue of Korumburra, Kristal Forbes, explains.
“We foster out rescue dogs and ultimately try to get them placed for adoption,” said Kristal.
“We’d only just placed Casper with a foster carer in Wonthaggi, I think five days earlier and he was still getting settled when some particularly stormy and windy weather scared him off.
“He clearly didn’t know the neighbourhood and got lost. We did absolutely everything to try and find him, from the huge social media campaign that Kylie jumped in and organised, to posters and word-of-mouth.
“It was massive and the response was overwhelming.
“We got help from everywhere.
“We were offered trail cameras from some local wildlife agencies and rescue groups.
“Helen came across from Phillip Island and after helping to find their lost dog ‘Heide’ over there, she brought her cameras and spent days looking for Casper.
“We put them out looking for him but ultimately didn’t see him that way.
“People reported seeing him in the area of the Dudley high school campus and in the paddocks opposite but when we came, he was gone again.”
Finally, at 1pm on Thursday, June 28 Kristal got a call to say a local resident had seen him and Helen Sellick, kylie Carlos and Simonne Fleming from Rescue to Release rushed across there, to a paddock opposite the Wonthaggi Golf Club, found him and sat nearby, chatting to him and trying to coax the desperately timid dog to at least stay until Kristal arrived.
“I was at Cranbourne and it took me 45 minutes to come across but Simonne was sitting with him and when he heard my voice, he got confident enough to allow us to go to him.
“They actually found him gnawing on a dead kangaroo, he was that hungry but he was skinny and had a few injuries. He’s no doubt been through quite an ordeal.
“We’ve got him at the vets now and he’s on a drip but we’re confident he’ll make a full recovery,” said Kristal.
“We’re just so thankful we’ve been able to find him alive and also for the incredible response we’ve had. Thanks to everyone," she said.
“We had local residents near the school watching for the dog for us, and that’s ultimately how we found him, and then everyone just jumped in and helped.”
So, it’s all’s well that ends well, but Kristal thinks it might be some time before Casper, who was already a quiet dog, recovers his confidence again.
At present New Beginnings Animal Rescue has rescue dogs available for adoption and they’re also looking to recruit further foster carers for dogs and cats that require temporary homes until they can be permanently settled. See their website for details: https://www.newbeginningsari.org.au/
If the extent to which New Beginnings and our other rescue agencies were prepared to go in finding Casper is any indication, our missing and rescue dogs and cats are in good hands.
And as for Casper… welcome home!
