Do you know where Polly is?
Polly was brought to The Alternative Animal Sanctuary just before Christmas 2007 as she had been due to be destroyed by Croydon Pound and had then been re-homed but sadly after two weeks in her new home her owners reported that she did not have a good temperament with other dogs and so they no longer wanted her so yet again she was due to be destroyed. She came to Sanctuary and lived in the house with initially six other dogs of all ages and breeds and became very settled. On the night of the fire ten dogs were happily living in my house with me, eight of whom were in the bedroom. When the fire broke out four of the most recently rescued dogs got up with me when I went to get the fire extinguisher but my more settled dogs were fairly unperturbed and by the time I came back I could not get passed the smoke to get to the fire and despite the fact that I was calling them and could even hear one of them who I believe may have been Polly they couldn't get to me through the smoke and I couldn't reach them.
In the morning I asked the firemen to check for the remains so that I could be sure of what had happened to them as I still hoped that they may have escaped. I had alerted all the local police and put out appeals on the local radio stations to ask for help to locate any that may be running scared. The firemen only found five bodies and I had assumed that the sixth had been too badly destroyed.
It wasn't until three days later that we were informed that a dog fitting Polly's description had been knocked down in Slip End in the next village and had been taken away in a car by a couple. Despite spending six hours calling local police, council dog wardens and vets no one can give any further details.
If she was taken out of the area and if she hasn't been scanned for her micro-chip I may never trace her. This high-lights the larger issue that it is often impossible to find lost dogs even when owners do try as there is no requirement for those collecting stray dogs to scan them for chips which means that wanted dogs are being destroyed everyday particularly if they are Staffordshire Bull Terriers.
I visited a pound the next week – end which does not scan the dogs as there was the possibility that Polly could have been there and as the dog in question was due to be destroyed that afternoon I ended up bringing her home which brings the total to nearly 40 Staffs I have taken in since August of last year. I would be grateful of any information to enable me to ascertain whether Polly did indeed survive or not and ideally for her safe return.
