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Warnham
provides a happy landing
for Lunar the Lurcher!
 At
the end of last year some builders doing work on a nearby house
saw three lurchers, a mum and her two puppies, being thrown
out of a car onto a grass verge. Some local villagers managed
to catch the two puppies quite quickly and thankfully they called
the Warnham Animal Sanctuary who set off to collect them. However,
the mother ran off into the woods but over the next few days
the shelter received reports from local people that she had
been seen. Warnham’s Lesley Courtneidge takes up the story:
‘Despite round the clock searching by local villagers and
sanctuary staff, when she was spotted a few times, she wouldn’t
let anyone near her. The staff took her puppies into the neighbouring
woods and they began crying and calling to her and, after a
week, she approached one of the puppies but ran off when staff
tried to get close. By this point she was extremely thin, had
cuts and grazes on her so we were fearful for her well being
especially as it as so cold and wet. Local villagers were putting
down food for her and trying to gain her trust but she definitely
had a fear of people.
‘Eventually, after eleven nights of being on the loose,
through the sheer tenacity of the sanctuary staff, she eventually
followed one of her puppies who was being led back to the sanctuary.
She was so weak and absolutely terrified but we quickly reunited
her with both her puppies.
‘Lunar, as sanctuary staff called her, quickly put on weight
and re-gained her trust in people and has now been successfully
re-homed. Willow, one of the puppies, has also been re-homed
to a family whose elderly pet lurcher just passed away. They’ve
said that he has settled down well, is scared of cats but very
interested in the pet rabbit next door! A couple were interested
in having Amber, the other puppy, but felt that it was too soon
after the death of their own lurcher. She was temporarily re-homed
but after a few days was returned as she was too strong for
her new owners. Coincidentally, the original couple returned
looking for a new dog as they felt the time was right and thought
it was fate that Amber was still available and have now taken
her home.’
l Warnham is a small animal sanctuary based in Warnham, Near
Horsham, West Sussex founded in 1979. It is responsible for
rescuing and re-homing animals, mainly in the Surrey, Sussex
and Kent areas, but also rescues them from further afield especially
as it is the southern rescue centre for GSDs and Dachshunds.
Although residents are predominately all species of dogs and
cats available for re-homing, Warnham also provides a permanent
home for rescued donkeys, pigs, rabbits, a pony, chipmunks and
birds.
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