An urgent plea has gone out after two dogs went missing near Appleby.
Heidi Batey said her brown border terrier Bea and white Staffordshire bull terrier Molly were last seen on Thursday, November 4 walking down the road from King’s Meaburn towards Mauld’s Meaburn.
She has urged people on social media to keep an eye out for her pets and several people have offered to help search the area for the animals.
Yesterday she posted on Facebook: “Please please share whenever you are. It’s been a week now with no news.”
There was particular concern after Bonfire Night with people fearing the noise would scare the dogs further into the countryside.
The dogs are microchipped.
Volunteer-run DogLost is also putting out appeals online on behalf of the Batey family.
Carol Jeffreys, a retired kennel owner who is at the forefront of Eden’s canine community and helping with the search, said: “The trouble is, it’s very difficult to do anything until we get a sighting. Until then it’s like searching for a needle in a haystack.
“It’s strange given the close-knit community that nobody has seen anything but I’ve walked around the area and there is a lot of dense woodland and it’s all quite remote.”
She added once a general location has been established, she will be able rig a trap with food and monitor it with cameras.
Until then the owners are leaving food out for the dogs and clothing with their scent on.
People are also purposefully walking their dogs in the area now to try and get a sighting of the missing pooches.
There is hope though, according to Carol who said if they have food, water and shelter they will be fine – something she has seen happen before.
