We love a happy ending here at Coconuts HK, especially when it involves lost, blind, insanely fluffy Chow Chows being reunited with their keepers via the most dramatic of circumstances.
If you were paying attention, you’ll have read our report last Thursday about Milton – a Chow Chow who was only recused from his miserable life as a breeder a few weeks ago – who lost himself on a Lamma hill when his foster mum, Sheila McCelland, turned around to pick up a poop.
Coconuts HK raised the alarm, prompting much concern from Hong Kong animal lovers who came from far and wide to join the search during the worst rain storms of the year.
Read Sheila’s dramatic write-up of the event… word for word:
Special people came from all over Hong Kong to help with Milton’s search. They searched ‘til the early hours, and started again before dawn. Nobody was put off by the pouring rain – after all, Milton was out there without any idea what to do or where to go, blind, lost, probably hurt.
We had a plan, a map divided by a grid so we could cover ground efficiently.
During the worst storm of the year, the other volunteers and I searched for hours through almost impenetrable vegetation on steep and muddy cliff faces.
In the end he was saved by his bark! Up till that point Milton had only ever been heard to squeak and huff. But at the right time he was brave enough to bark.
The search team scrambled over jagged rocks, slid down slippery cliffs, a snake event went around a rescuer’s legs.
Some of the LAP (Lifelong Animal Protection) volunteers tracked along the beach at the base of the cliff, and it was then they heard a distant and weak barking on the cliff above.
Clambering up the cliff face from the sea, one could hear occasional barking, but the vegetation was so thick that he had to literally crawl on his stomach to get underneath the thick mesh of creepers and vines.
And then there he was. Milton was caught in vegetation with creepers around his neck, chest and legs, unable to move forward or back. The creepers were stopping him falling over a precipice! All he could do was weakly bark. That was enough to save his life.
Milton was thankfully largely unharmed apart from a few gruesome maggots that wiggled their way under his skin.
Here’s a photo of him in the bath after getting home, just because it’s awesome and will make you happy.
Congrats to Milton and McCelland alike.
Milton is still looking a permanent family, however. Can Sheila on (+852) 6477-1492 or email info@lap.org.hk if you can give this big chunk of love a home!
Related Stories:
Help find Milton! Blind rescue Chow Chow that can’t bark missing on Lamma Island
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