By Eleanor Wilson
A Narre Warren woman is thanking the local community for their efforts in searching for her two missing dogs, who were found separately on the Princes Highway on-ramp at Narre Warren last week.
Abbey Keys’ two rescue dogs Zues and Zena went missing in the early hours of Sunday 3 April; escaping after the back gate to her property was left open.
Ms Keys said she immediately launched a call-out on her social media pages, hoping locals may be able to help locate the dogs.
Thanks to the Facebook and Instagram posts, locals found Zues about 7am the same day, at the on-ramp to the Princes Highway inbound at Narre Warren, near the Mercedes Benz Berwick dealership.
“It was a relief to get Zues back, but I was also frantic because I had hoped they would have stayed together,” Ms Keys said.
Zena remained lost for the next seven days, but Ms Keys said online support continued to grow, giving her hope she would be reunited with the Rhodesion Ridgeback.
“I found all through the week [the posts] kept getting shared more and more. On Facebook every morning and night I’d comment a massive update about where I’d been looking and any sightings of her, and by the Monday or Tuesday we’d put out flyers around the neighbourhood,” she said.
“By that point complete strangers were sharing my posts and I actually met someone who had seen my post and was also out looking for Zena, and he suggested making a group chat so I could put out instant updates about the search,” she said.
Ms Keys the group chat grew to about 80 group members, all actively searching for her missing dog.
“Throughout the week we actually ended up finding about six or seven dogs that weren’t Zena but were also lost,” she said.
After several sightings, Zena was eventually reunited with her emotional owner on the morning of Sunday 10 April.
“All morning from 5am until 9:30am we were in the area Zues was found, on car and on foot and eventually we just thought let’s just sit here and hope for the best,” she said.
“Zeus’ ears pricked up at around 10am and I heard some movement and I looked to my left and I called ‘Zena’ really softly and she just naturally came toward me.”
Ms Keys said she was “overwhelmed with relief” to be reunited with her canine friend, after spending over 12 hours each day for the last week looking for her.
“The week has just been a blur and I’ve just been in adrenaline mode so the relief to see her and have her in my arms, you can’t put a price on it,” she said.
With both dogs’ health given the tick of approval from vets, Ms Keys said she hopes to organise a meet and greet to thank community members who helped over the seven day search.
“I’ve had hundreds of messages from people who have been searching for Zena, or just wishing us well, it’s been really heart warming,’ she said.
“We want to do a little picnic so the people who have been so dedicated to finding Zena can actually meet her. It’s the least I can do, there’s nothing I can do or say to repay them.”
