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Telegraph
10 hours ago
- General
- Telegraph
Dog's 36-day escapade ends on island 40 miles from home
A lost dog has returned home after a 40-mile journey that finished with a swim across a harbour. Amber, a five-year-old retriever cross, had been missing for 36 days when she was picked up by a boat crew. The rescue dog went missing from her foster home at Bramshaw, in the New Forest, on April 25. In the following days, there were 63 reported sightings of her in the National Park, with food stations put out and cameras set up to try and locate her. But she somehow walked in a south-westerly direction across the Forest to the coast and ended up in Sandbanks, Poole. She then paddled for one mile across Poole Harbour to reach Brownsea Island. One of the few residents on the island put out food for Amber each night after spotting her. But after four days, the dog attempted to swim back to the mainland and was seen by the crew of a passing ferry who thought she was a seal. Crew mate Ethan Grant said: 'I then realised it was a dog and thought, 'what's that doing out there?' You could see she was struggling, so we thought we need to get her out otherwise she wouldn't have made it.' Amber was checked by a vet and, despite spending five weeks on her own, was found to be relatively unscathed. She lost a lot of weight and is now getting extra meals to gain it back before she can be considered for adoption. Amber had been rescued as a street puppy in Qatar but had spent most of her life in a shelter there. She was brought to the UK by KS Angels Rescue, an organisation run by husband and wife team Sam Collins and Kelly Parker. Amber had been staying with foster carer Jess Wadsworth, who said she had no idea how the dog had escaped past 8ft-high deer fencing. Ms Wadsworth said: 'We were really concerned because she had no knowledge of the UK, no one she had bonded with and she was just running from everyone. We were wondering how on earth we would ever get her back.' Both Mr Collins and Ms Parker praised the response from residents across Hampshire and Dorset who helped in the search for Amber. Ms Parker said: 'Thanks to them, we have been able to track Amber as we had sightings most days. Now she will be spending time with her foster family as she needs fattening up and help building up her tolerance to people. 'The woman Amber befriended on Brownsea Island has already contacted us about adoption, so we are in talks with her.'
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Lost dog went on incredible 40-mile journey for five weeks and even swam to an island before being found
A lost dog has been found after making an incredible 40-mile journey and even swimming to an island. Amber, a five-year-old retriever cross, had been missing for 36 days when she was picked up by a boat crew as she tried to swim back to the mainland. The rescue dog vanished from her foster home in Bramshaw in the New Forest on April 25. In the following days there were 63 reported sightings of her in the National Park, with food stations were put out and cameras set up in a bid to locate her. She somehow walked in a south westerly direction across the forest to the coast, ending up on Sandbanks in Poole. Amber then doggy-paddled for one mile across Poole Harbour to reach Brownsea Island. During her four days on the tiny island, she was befriended by one of its mere 30 residents who laid out food for her every night. Amber then attempted to swim back to the mainland but was fortunately spotted by the crew of a passing ferry who initially mistook her for a seal. Noticing she was struggling with the tide, the heroic crew turned the boat around before someone jumped into the water to help her. Ethan Granta, a member of the crew, said: 'I then realised it was a dog and thought 'what's that doing out there?' 'You could see she was struggling so we thought we need to get her out otherwise she wouldn't have made it.' Amber was checked out by a vet and, despite spending five weeks fending for herself, was left relatively unscathed. Unsurprisingly, the young pet had lost a lot of weight and is now getting extra meals to gain it back before she can be considered for adoption. Amber had previously been rescued as a street puppy in Qatar but had then spent most of her life living in a shelter there. Kelly Parker, who runs KS Rescue, the dog rescue service Amber was brought to after arriving in the UK, said she could not believe how far Amber had travelled, describing her as 'remarkable' She was later brought to the UK by KS Angels Rescue, an organisation run by husband and wife team Sam Collins, 38, and Kelly Parker, 36. At the time of her disappearance, the young pup had been staying with foster carer Jess Wadsworth in Bramshaw who said she had no idea how she escaped from her home as she had eight foot-high deer fencing installed. Ms Wadsworth said: 'We were really concerned because she had no knowledge of the UK, no one she had bonded with and she was just running from everyone. 'We were wondering how on earth we would ever get her back.' Meanwhile Mr Collins said that during her time at the rescue centre Amber had not yet formed bonds with the staff and so often 'bolted' at an unbelievably fast speed, remarking: 'she was always moving faster than we were'. He added: 'She was absolutely all over the place, she kept returning to where she went missing from and was moving in bigger and bigger circles. 'But then we had no sightings for a week before I got a call that she was on a boat. 'We know she entered the water at Sandbanks as we were sent a photo of her there. It is about a mile of swimming, which is just incredible.' Ms Parker said she could not believe how far Amber had travelled, describing her as 'remarkable'. She said: 'It is miraculous she did not get run over. We are absolutely over the moon that she is back. 'We took her to the vets and apart from being underweight, she was given a clean bill of health.' Both Mr Collins and Ms Parker praised the response from residents across Hampshire and Dorset who assisted in the search for Amber. The young pup will now be spending some time recovering from her extraordinary ordeal with her foster family, who hope she will slowly be able to build a tolerance to other people. Ms Wadsworth also confirmed that the woman Amber befriended on Brownsea Island is 'in talks' with the pair about the possibility of adopting her.
BBC News
15 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Domino's Pizza lorry crashes through garden fence in Brockenhurst
A Domino's Pizza lorry has ploughed through a fence and ended up in a garden following a crash with a happened on the A337 Lymington Road in Brockenhurst in the New Forest shortly before 06:00 cab and part of the trailer, emblazoned with with the brand's "Eat My Crust" slogan down the side, were left wedged through the and Isle of Wight Constabulary said one person suffered a minor injury. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
New Forest dog festival creates own beach amid UK pooch ban
A pop-up beach has been created at a festival exclusively for dogs, as a canine beach ban comes into force in many coastal spots across the in Hampshire sees pooches from all over gather in the heart of the New Forest for a weekend of activities and a chance to feel the sand beneath their UK beaches have a seasonal ban on dogs during the summer months, which came into force on 1 May and lasts until 30 tonnes of sand and an array of palm trees have been brought in to Burley Park for the event, which organisers described as a "Glastonbury meets Crufts style dog festival". The festival's director, Richard Nowell, said dogs were the "VIPs" at Dogstival, with everything "dedicated to their enjoyment". He said: "With so many dogs being fans of the beach, the restrictions that come into place from 1 May can be a real party pooper on four-legged fun. "It's for this reason we have teamed up with Away Resorts to offer a pop-up holiday resort and beach where all those pesky rules simply do not apply." The festival will see a beach party disco and a giant foam party for the animals, as well as dog yoga, diving and splash pools, circus acts and street event also offers advice for owners, with demonstrations from leading local dog behaviourists. You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey: A work of conscience and consequence
The Book of Guilt Author : Catherine Chidgey ISBN-13 : 9781399823623 Publisher : John Murray Guideline Price : £15.99 'Before I knew what I was, I lived with my brothers in a grand old house in the heart of the New Forest.' So begins Catherine Chidgey's quietly devastating novel, The Book of Guilt, a haunting blend of psychological fable, gothic parable, and slow-burn thriller. Set in England in 1979, it tells the story of Vincent, Laurence and William, identical triplets raised under the Sycamore Scheme, a secretive government project housed in an isolated care home. At first, there is something of a sleepy fairy tale in the way the boys are raised in isolation, their dreams reaching seaward, 'a gentle hushing as constant as the hushing of our own breaths, our own blood'. Overseeing them are three matriarchs, Mother Morning, Mother Afternoon and Mother Night, who monitor every detail of the boys' lives. Dreams are catalogued in The Book of Dreams, lessons in The Book of Knowledge and every offence in The Book of Guilt. READ MORE But beneath the routine, something feels wrong. This is not parenting, it is programming. The strangeness seeps in slowly, with devastating effect. The boys begin to question why their meals are laced with medicine or why their reading is confined to dusty encyclopedias. 'We didn't know the name of our sickness, and its symptoms varied from month to month and boy to boy; we just called it the Bug.' They are promised a reward, a place in the Big House by the sea in Margate, a paradise of endless play. Interwoven with their story is that of 13-year-old Nancy, kept inside by her overprotective parents in Exeter. Her growing claustrophobia mirrors the boys' captivity. Meanwhile, the Minister of Loneliness leads a government effort to dismantle the Sycamore Homes. Chidgey writes with surgical precision and emotional weight. Like Never Let Me Go, it gradually unveils a reality that feels disturbingly plausible. The speculative premise, that children are 'copies' raised for obedience and discarded at signs of deviance, becomes a chilling metaphor for institutional control. The Book of Guilt is a singular story that lingers, and burrows into the darker corners of childhood, surveillance, and what it means to truly see, or be seen. The result is a novel of conscience and consequence: quietly devastating, fiercely intelligent and unforgettable.
