Dog gone.... Bronx found after straying for 18 months
“We were heartbroken when he was lost,” Bronx’s delighted owner Margaret O’Connor said last night.
“It’s a miracle that he was returned to us. It’s better than winning the Lotto.”
The four-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier went missing while out for a walk with Margaret’s son Paul and her brother Danny, in fields north of Cork City. Danny said they scoured the area for him for weeks without success. Paul has since passed away.
Margaret said they had given up hope of ever finding Bronx again.
No one is sure where the dog was for the last 18 months. He was picked up at some stage by the CSPCA who handed him over to the Dogs Trust charity two weeks ago in the hope they could find him a permanent home.
A Dogs Trust spokesperson said as part of their intake policy, Bronx was immediately scanned for a microchip, which allowed them to trace his owners to their address in Hollyhill, on Cork’s northside, and the reunion was organised.
Margaret collected him from the charity’s Finglas base last week. “We were thrilled to find out that Bronx was alive and well and so grateful to Dogs Trust,” Margaret said.
“It goes to prove that you should never give up hope and that it pays to have your dog chipped.
“Where Bronx has been for the past 18 months nobody knows, but the important thing now is that he’s back with his family.
“He’s still the same, nice, quiet fella. Wherever he was, he was well looked after. He could have fallen into the wrong hands.
“We are thrilled to have him home. What a fantastic Mother’s Day present.”
Dogs Trust has 156 dogs looking for permanent homes. All have been neutered and micro-chipped and had their temperaments assessed.
* www.dogstrust.ie
