Weaver, a 9 month old Bulgarian rescue dog, got spooked while on a walk in Heaton Park, Manchester, and bolted, pulling the lead from his owners hand. This was on Thursday morning 4th September. He still had his lead attached.
Owner contacted us asking for us to help and we began straight away with first of all advice, then Ruby went to thermal scope the immediate area where he ran. The area of the park where he ran has lots of woodland and, although we believed he was still in the immediate area, the thermal scope didn’t pick him up.
Weaver’s owners told us he had only arrived from Bulgaria a month before and was very nervous, especially when outside. They had been working on him walking him short distances in a quiet area of Heaton Park. The following day I went to put a feed station up believing that it was known which pocket of woods Weaver was in. So I paid for one hour on the car park machine and confidently walked over to the owners, thinking this was going to be a quick one! All I had to do was do a feed station which wouldn’t take long. I then learned that owners didn’t know which pocket of woods he was last seen running into. So I trudged back to the car park and paid for the full day. So much for me thinking it would be a quick reunite! (I know Heaton Park well, however I had never been to this part of the park.) I thermal scoped as much of the area as possible but the scope didn’t pick him up. I set a feed station up in the middle of all the pockets of woods and near to where owner last saw him. That night the camera only picked up a fox.
On Saturday, I put 2 feedstations up in different spots, and again thermal scoped the area. Posters had been placed within the park asking people to not approach him if seen as he would bolt but to phone his owners. With what his owners had told us, it seemed that Weaver was just hiding somewhere and was too scared to move. Of course, we were also worried that he may have got caught on something with his lead, but we knew the chances were high that he would chew through the lead (it was nylon material) and free himself. Regardless, we thermal scoped as much as possible of the area.
At 9.06pm, on Saturday night, Weaver turned up at one of the feed stations and ate for the first time since bolting. He still had his lead attached. His owners were so happy (as we were)seeing that he was okay and was finally getting some food into him.
Early Sunday morning, we set the humane trap up where he had eaten on camera the night before. I didn’t activate it until night time incase any other animals went into it, which they did. It was very busy at the park with lots of off lead dogs who visited the trap (this happened every day until he was trapped). We could hear owners in the background shouting their dogs (through the live cameras) and one dog spent 10 minutes inside the trap eating (this was Monday) so we were worried that the owner had lost him. It turned out that the owner lets this dog wander around the park while she drives around on her mobility scooter. I tried scaring the dog off at first by shouting through the live camera but he just barked at the camera and proceeded to eat 
. I even put a post up on the local Facebook group asking if anyone had lost a dog.
Weaver did not show up at the trap area that night. He had only eaten for two minutes the night before at the feed station and looked very nervous and ready to bolt so I had wondered if the sight of the trap would scare him. Because of this, I camouflaged as much of the trap as possible with foliage (I couldn’t do all of it as I wouldn’t have been able to see inside the trap when he went in and not able to activate the door closing incase of injury).
On Monday night, he turned up at the trap area. He ate a few morsels of food near to the trap then he went away. He showed no interest in the trap and kept his distance before disappearing. We heard, through the camera, a firework go off 
which had made him leave. We desperately hoped this hadn’t made him associate the trap with the firework as that would then stop him coming back. This was at 9pm so we hoped he would be back during the night. He didn’t come back that night.
I again thermal scoped the area the following morning, on Tuesday 9th September but it didn’t pick up anything. We refreshed the food in the trap, later on before dusk, which we had been doing every day, and put some food (as well as the trail of bits of food leading into the trap) outside the trap because by then, Weaver hadn’t eaten for 72 hours (unless he had found left over food from park visitors) and he needed to eat. He was very nervous of the trapping area and I didn’t want him to become frustrated with being so hungry but not able to go into the trap for food. He could then avoid the trapping area. So I left some food for him, not enough to fill him up but enough to take the hunger pangs away.
At 9.26pm, Weaver showed up. He was so nervous, he stretched himself, keeping his back feet outside the perimeter of the trap, to eat the food left there. He then foraged for scraps of food in front on the trap, meanwhile becoming more confident. This lasted for over an hour and then he started to circle the trap which was a positive sign.
At 10.38pm, Weaver gained his confidence and finally entering the trap, and stretching himself like Stretch Man, with his back feet out of the trap, he started to eat the trail inside leading to the feast at the back of the trap. It was just too much for him and he went inside that bit more until he was fully in the trap and the trapdoor was closed. No more hiding in Heaton Park little man and welcome home. Little did I know at the beginning that what I thought was an easy one would turn into a long 6 days and 5 nights, and the final hour and a quarter willing him into the trap a nerve wrecking nail biting experience! Weaver’s behaviour showed from the start that he would be difficult to trap and he proved this. However, despite his fear and nervousness, he managed to push that to one side and finally enter the trap and eat his feast. There was a heart warming reunion with his owners and last night, for the first time since getting him a month ago, he cuddled up with them and slept with them on the bed.
