Meg was last seen by a member of the public walking down Tannery Rd on Thursday afternoon. Photo / Supplied
Meg was last seen by a member of the public walking down Tannery Rd on Thursday afternoon. Photo / Supplied
A concerted community effort to find a blind, deaf elderly dog who went missing from her Napier home last week has failed to recover the beloved pet.
Seventeen-year-old Welsh terrier Meg went missing from her Pirimai home Monday last week and has not been found despite extensive searches and flyerdrops.
Owner Sally Davenport said a gate at her property had been left open during a furniture delivery early Monday evening.
"It was dark, cold and raining and for the first time in 17 years I didn't go and check, I completely forgot.
"So my 17-year-old blind and deaf amazing Welsh terrier, who is full of indomitable spirit, walked off the property sometime between 10pm Monday and 7.30am Tuesday."
The Napier woman had checked Meg when she went to bed but said she was nowhere to be found when she woke up.
"It really is a complete and utter mystery, a total utter mystery."
"The thing about Meg is that she was very old, she was still active, and she would have walked somewhere, got really tired and probably sat down somewhere where she thought she was safe."
Davenport drove around her neighbourhood before friends helped her put calls into local dog facilities, print flyers and post on social media pages dedicated to missing pets.
"We distributed about a 1000 flyers to every single house in the Pirimai area, vets, the dog control officers, the police, the SPCA, the pound, every supermarket and dairy,' she said.
Meg was last seen by a member of the public walking down Tannery Rd on Thursday afternoon. Photo/Supplied.
The response was overwhelming, with many reaching out to share their concerns about Meg, but no one knew where the Welsh terrier was.
"We had a very, very positive sighting by gentleman who was on his way to work but he didn't know until midnight on Friday that the very elderly dog he had seen hobbling up the road was a missing dog," Davenport said.
She planned a co-ordinated search with more than 50 volunteers on Saturday but Meg hadn't been found.
"It was the most amazing community effort, it was unbelievable.
"They came to my house, went out in pairs, door knocked and searched. They pleaded with people to look in their sheds, outhouses and under shrubs and bushes."
Despite the time that had lapsed since Meg went missing, Davenport said her dog had survived many near-death experiences before and had hopes that she was still alive.
"She's out there somewhere because she's a very, very determined dog.
"If you know anything about Welsh terriers they're quite extraordinary. They're very rare and they're incredibly hardy."
