A rescue dog has made a historic 40-mile trek from his new home to his old owners, who sadly had to give him up.
Cooper, an adorable Golden Retriever, was missing for almost a whole month and later discovered some 40 miles away after only being at his new forever home in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland for a short while.
Unfortunately, his previous owners were no longer able to care for him and had to give him up, which is when another family welcomed him into their home to live with them and their furry friend Molly. Missing pets charity Lost Paws NI leaped into action to try and locate the poor pooch, taking to their Facebook account to ask the public if they knew his whereabouts.
In one particular post, Lost Paws posted several images of Cooper and explained that he had gone missing on April 1st.
"Cooper went missing 01/04 from his new home in the Dungannon area. Cooper was an extremely timid dog in a new environment and managed to slip from his owner which is when his adventure began," they wrote. "We were asked to assist with a search by Cooper's family and we were able to respond. We setup various feeding stations around the area and completed door-to-door speaking to the locals.
"Today we received a call from a member of the public stating that he recognized Cooper from our posts and that he seen him running towards his old property (25 miles as the crow flies) and was certain it was him. We quickly contacted Nigel his new owner and around 20 minutes later a photo arrived in our inbox of a disheveled but breathing Cooper, something we were absolutely elated to see," the charity continued.
"Cooper crossed main A roads, forests, fields, country roads all over 27 days to make his way back home from an area he had never been in before. We are absolutely delighted to have been part of his rescue and a story that will live on in his family for generations to come," they added.
The charity has calculated that he must have walked over 40 miles all by himself through back woods and main roads, probably at night-time.
Cooper - whom the charity playfully nicknamed Cooper Gump - had been on a lengthy journey from the town of Dungannon to Cookstown to Magherafelt and finally to his former hometown, Tobermore.
His new owner Nigel Fleming explained to BelfastLive: "I'd met Cooper a few days before in the hope he'd be good company for my Golden Retriever, Molly. But I was just about to get the dogs out of the car on their leads for their first walk together when Cooper bolted. He literally jumped over Molly, prized the car door open enough to get past me and ran for it.”
Nigel says that he is glad Cooper is safe and sound and getting used to his new forever home.
