June 21 (UPI) — An England family had an unexpected reunion when a veterinarian called to report their lost dog had been found — after more than 11 years.
Sarah Covell, of Buckland Newton, Dorset, said the Jack Russell terrier named Crumpet was only 3 months old when she vanished from the family’s back yard in 2010.
Covell said she, her husband and their two daughters, Elektra and Tallulah, searched the area for weeks trying to find Crumpet, but there was no sign of the canine. Then Covell received a phone call this month.
“I got a phone call from an emergency vets in Bournemouth to say that they had found my dog, and my first thought was that one of my three terriers had managed to get out,” Covell told the Dorset Echo. “Then when she said they had looked at the microchip and her name was Crumpet I couldn’t believe it.”
Crumpet was found wandering loose in Poole Quay, and was brought into the veterinary clinic, where she was scanned for a microchip.
“I was on my bike at the time and I nearly fell off, I was so shocked. I had given up on hoping she would come back and thought she was lost forever. It’s so lovely that she has come home,” Covell said.
Covell said Crumpet has health problems including a heart murmur and tumors in both of her ears that have left her completely deaf.
“It seems that someone might have taken her and then, when they thought she would be expensive with vet bills, just dumped her,” Covell said.
She said the family is now working with a vet to get Crumpet’s health issues addressed.
“It’s such a shame that we have missed the best years of her life, but hopefully we will have some more with her,” she said.