RESIDENTS in Lymm showed plenty of community spirit to ensure a stray dog had a happy Christmas – with a new home now needed in the New Year.
Sightings started of the large dog, now nicknamed “Bear” shortly after Dickensian Day near Lymm Dam.
Social media posts started reported sightings of him between the Dam and Lymm Village. With the weather turning cold and wet, dozens of people started looking out for him, with appeals to trace the owner.
Local animal lovers Zoe Aspin and Heather Cake started to monitor him, putting out food and shelter at St Mary’s Church, where he was often to be found standing on one of the tombs, looking at the road.
Zoe said: “We had a plan that would help him, but the people chasing him made him very nervous’. He disappeared a few days later, but was spotted in Oughtrington, and again reported on Facebook, to be down by Spud Wood.”
Local residents Tina Round and Diane Kerfoot got involved and managed to find a badger trap from Freshfields Animal Rescue that was big enough to catch him.
With permission from the landowner, Mrs Harrison of Three Acre Stud, they started setting the trap, and finally, on the 22nd of December, he was caught by Diane and Tina. Having spent at least 10 days out in the wilds, fending for himself, it was decided to call him Bear, after the explorer Bear Grylls.
Lymm Vets checked him over and kept him in for a couple of days, before former Lymm Parish Council clerk Yvonne Cook took him in for Christmas – she already had a rescue dog, that she’d fostered eight years ago for Christmas, who ended up staying.
Bear is now back at Lymm Vets, and the team is looking for a new home for him. He’s a friendly boy and seems used to children, playing happily with Heather’s daughter, India. Any one interested in giving him a new home, call Diane on 07802 544767.
Local councillor Graham Gowland who praised local residents for their community spirit said: “So we have a happy ending to what could have been a very sad story. With the help of dozens of local people working together, he was kept alive, monitored then finally caught – a great example of a community working together. Lymm Vets has a fund to help strays – residents can call in with any donations to support Bear and other local lost animals.
