Missing dog reunited with owner after heartwarming rescue mission from Sussex animal-lovers

Alice Wright, from Eastbourne, had set off on a holiday to Wales, leaving her recently-adopted dog, Mila, with her partner at work in Crawley.

However, Alice soon received the bad news that Mila was missing after bolting out of an open door.

The rescue dog was traced as far as Tilgate Park but, disorientated and frightened in new unfamiliar surroundings, she evaded capture.

Alice quickly joined the search and amassed a growing following of support on social media networks in Crawley and Eastbourne. Sightings poured in showing Mila had crossed the A23 unscathed and was spotted at Asda and Three Bridges railway station, before worrying reports came in that she had been seen on the railway tracks.

Lost Dog Recovery UK South printed hundreds of leaflets and set up motion sensor cameras, a blanket and food to tempt Mila into a garden backing onto the railway line, while staff from Network Rail searched the tracks.

Two days later, Paul Robins, a UK Power Networks electricity engineer, was working in Crawley when he heard a noise in the bushes nearby.

Paul said: “I could hear rustling in the bushes… and then I saw her. She growled a bit, then flopped on the floor and I could see she had a tag. She looked terrified.

"I gently touched her back and she let me stroke her so I could see her tag, then we phoned the number on the tag and gave Alice directions to the yard.

“Mila wouldn’t move at all so eventually I picked her up, she was so chilled out. She hadn’t eaten for a couple of days. It was so nice to see her reunited with Alice.”

Alice ‘burst into tears’ when she was reunited with her beloved pup and said the whole experience has left her with ‘a nice, fuzzy feeling about humanity’.

She said: “Everyone was amazing, they don’t even know my dog, but they were so kind and generous with their time.

“When she got home she was play fighting with our other dog Jack as if nothing had happened.

"We’re just so relieved and grateful to everyone for their help and kindness.”