Written by Lisa Godana, Administrator – Mdzananda Animal Clinic
Photography by Nizaar Marlie
A Jack Russell arrived at Mdzananda after he’d been rescued from the highway near Cape Town Airport by animal angel Claire Du Trevou.
We immediately checked the dog for a microchip, and he had one! We called the number on the microchip a number of times over three days, but unfortunately received no answer. The microchip number was registered to people residing in Mitchells Plain.
We kept the little dog in our stray yard in the hope that we’d find his owners.
We were contacted by Jean Task, who offered to assist with tracking the owners. Within a few minutes, she managed to get us the address of his owner, Ann van Blerck, and her physical address in Mitchells Plain.
We then contacted Vanessa Goedhals of MPAW (Mitchells Plain Animal Welfare) to assist by going to check the address and enquire if they’d lost a dog.
Needless to say, they were over the moon to hear we had their dog, named Chico… they’d lost Chico nearly two years ago!
Vanessa kindly collected Chico and delivered him back to his very grateful owners – there was much excitement all round!
Claire de Trevou, Chico’s saviour, shares…
On Wednesday the 2nd of September, I was driving to Khayelitsha on the N2. I’d just passed the airport when I saw traffic building up ahead and hazard lights being switched on. I slowed down, and then I saw a little dog running in the middle of the first two lanes.
Most people slowed right down. Two ladies had pulled over, jumped out of their cars and were running after the dog.
He was much faster than them, though, so I drove past the dog and pulled over in front of him. By this time he was running in the right-hand side emergency lane next to the concrete barricades of the N2.
Getting out of my car, I called him towards me. He was shaking and scared. Although initially hesitant of me, he soon came to me, and I bent down, picked him up, and tried to soothe him.
As I was heading into Khayelitsha anyway, I told the other woman (who’d now caught up with me) that I’d take him with me and drop him off at Mdzananda. I’m part of the Rotary Noon Gun Club, and we work with Mdzannanda on fundraising and awareness projects – so I was happy that he’d be going to capable hands.
His paw was also bleeding slightly, so I was a little worried that he might be hurt.
On my way to the vet, I sent a picture to my husband, who posted it to various Facebook groups by animal angel Jean Thysse.
I dropped him at Mdzananda and left my details so that they could contact me if he needed to be fostered.
I’m so glad I was able to catch him and hand him over to safe hands and was even more astounded and thrilled to hear that he was reunited with his family!
Ann’s son, Reginald Wyngaard, shares…
Chico was adopted, along with a Boxer named Missy, from Animal Welfare Society Philippi around 2009. Sadly, Missy has since passed on. After the passing of my stepfather, I moved in with my mom and sister in 2015, together with my Husky, Levi, and my German Shepherd, Tigger.
On the 5th of November 2018, the house across the road from us burnt down, and all three dogs got out amidst the panic. All the doors were open and there was complete chaos, with smoke and people all over trying to put out the fire.
I then noticed the gate open and spotted the Husky running off. When I checked up on all the dogs, they were gone, and I immediately went looking for them. By this time, one of the kids living on the corner near us said that Levi was at their house, but they’d witnessed a man pick up Chico and drive off.
I managed to get Levi and Trigger back, but Chico was gone!
For months, Chico was a sad and painful topic for our family. Eventually, we gave up hope of ever finding him again. Knowing that Jack Russells are dogs used as practice runs for Pit Bulls in dogfights, we were heartbroken and prayed that Chico didn’t meet this horrible end.
Until my mom got the visit from Vanessa. Thanks to Chico’s microchip, we were traced.
We were overwhelmed with joy and grateful to find him alive and strong. We’re so thankful to have him back with us, and only wish he could talk and share with us his past journey of 21 months!
We can’t thank everyone involved in reuniting us with Chico enough – thank you!
