Cheshire woman left 'heartbroken' after rescue dog dies on Bonfire Night
A rescue dog was 'frightened to death' after a firework was set off in her neighbourhood.Dog owner Katherine Lucy Robinson was left ‘heartbroken’ after her 22-month-old rescue dog Lara-Beau panicked and was hit by a car on Bonfire Night.Katherine, who lives in Little Sutton in Wirral, said that Lara-Beau had been ‘traumatised’ by an unexpected bang and in a bid to find her, jumped from a “partially open” upstairs window and headed towards a busy motorway.
On Friday, 5 November, Katherine had spent the day preparing for the night ahead and took measures to ensure her four rescue dogs were as relaxed and comfortable as they could be.
She set up calming fragrances around the house, closed the curtains, dressed the dogs in thunder jackets, played Classic FM’s soothing dog playlist, fed them early so they could settle down and ensured there were no escape routes for the dogs to bolt through.However despite it all, when the firework was set off in close proximity to the home, Lara-Beau went into “escape mode”.Katherine, who was out collecting her 12-year-old son from a climbing activity, arrived home at approximately 6.10pm to find Lara-Beau was missing.
She searched for over four hours desperately trying to find the rescue dog, however returned home and set up camp outside for the night in the hopes that Lara-Beau might have been able to smell her.
Katherine added: “When I came home, I slept outside, I put clothes out, food out, her bed, really really hoping she would smell me.“I walked our normal dog route so that she might have been able to find her way and smell me.”Katherine added: “I knew the time she got out must have been really close to the time I arrived home as she was seen by one person who contacted me and where she was seen was about a mile away from here at about 5/10 past six.”Sadly, Lara-Beau was brought home to Katherine on Saturday by a local woman who had found her dead, having been hit by a car on the motorway.
Katherine and her family rescued the Spanish podenco four months ago after the three-legged dog had previously been “used, abused and discarded” by hunters.The 42-year-old said she often questioned ‘who rescued who’ after Lara-Beau’s arrival coincided with a time that was especially difficult in Katherine's life and said that the two formed an 'immediate bond'.
She said: “I ache for her so badly, she was a beautiful soul with an awful start to life.“She came into my life at a time when I needed her and I believe we healed each other.“She was so resilient and so forgiving despite the awful things that have happened to her.“It made me pick myself up because she was just so affectionate and trusting and I just thought if she can deal with what she went through and still trust then I can deal with what I’ve gone through and approach everything with a loving heart.”
Following Lara-Beau’s death Katherine has made it her mission to make a change to how Bonfire Night is celebrated in future.
She said: “When I was a child, Bonfire Night was always held in your back garden, with Catherine wheels and small fireworks - but fireworks have changed in intervening years and they’re so much louder and so much more dangerous.“I just feel like we shouldn't be doing that on neighbourhoods when we have no idea of what impact it is having on people or animals in the area.“It can affect people in a lot of ways and a lot of it is related to previous trauma people and animals have had and nobody can know how someone could be affected - we don’t know who around us could be hurt by these unexpected displays.“It just makes me feel sick that this is all just for enjoyment and it's not what it was originally about - marking a date of a historical event, we’ve shifted away from that."Katherine said that the support she has received from the community and charities, such as Lost Dogs UK, has been amazing but Lara-Beau’s death still leaves a 'huge loss to the whole family' and her 12-year-old son is ‘heartbroken’.She added: “She made such a huge impact on the family.“I will never be able to enjoy a firework again.”