Roxy’s success story February 2023

There were numerous sightings of her at first, including one of her on the nearby railway line which she luckily managed to get off safely. Feed stations and remote cameras were placed at sightings and after camera footage of her feeding in a certain area, a humane trap was set on the 9 February. Roxy fleetingly entered the trap that night but was in and out in the blink of an eye.

Plans were set for the following night but after a lengthy disturbance at the trapping site that night she disappeared and completely left the area. We printed hundreds of posters, laminated them and postered surrounding areas hoping for that one sighting to let us know she was okay. It was 10 days on the 19 February before she showed herself on camera back at her original safe place. We had had no sightings of her at all in all that time and were fearing the worse.

During the 10 days she had not been seen, we still maintained the humane trap, putting fresh food in everyday. Remote cameras and feed stations were placed in different areas and food was kept fresh everyday. When she was seen on our camera and she was back we then placed another humane trap and waited. Since the first trap had been set, it attracted (as always) lots of cats. However, when we set the second trap, these same cats began to visit that trap too. The notifications came one after the other all day and night. Each notification having to be checked in case it was Roxy, so the trap could be remotely activated should she go in it. Roxy showed herself on cameras again that night, but showed no interest at all in going near the trap. The cats went in one after the other and ate and ate. This became a real problem because according to Roxy’s owner, she was scared of cats (Roxy is tiny and smaller than a cat although she looks bigger on the camera footage). We put fresh worn unwashed clothing of her owners near to the trap and inside the trap. Roxy would lie on this clothing and did go nearer to the trap as she was attracted to her owners scent but she would not enter it.

Yesterday we received a message that a light coloured dog had been seen deceased on Padiham Bypass. We spent a long time phoning Burnley and Pendle council and being passed around to different departments trying to find out who had removed this dog. The description fitted Roxy but we could not get an answer as to what had happened to this dog. It seemed nobody knew anything. Thankfully, and to such a huge relief, Roxy appeared on our camera fit and well several hours later.

Last night we made plans with Roxy’s owner for her to be picked up by ourselves tonight and taken to the trapping area. We instructed her on what she had to do which was to sit down with enticing food and wait for Roxy to appear. The plan being that Roxy would eventually recognise her owner and go to her.

So tonight (22 February) we put our plans into action. Roxy’s owner followed our instructions and sat on the ground for over 3 hours waiting for Roxy to appear while we waited outside the trapping area. At 9.10pm, Roxy showed herself on camera. She came out of her safe place and walked towards the corner of the house. We could see she had picked up a scent as she trotted towards the corner of the house where her owner was sat around the corner.

As soon as she saw her owner, she ran straight towards her and into her arms! We went straight there to them and it was a very emotional reunion . Her owner was crying with happiness and Roxy was yelping with happiness. Words can’t describe how beautiful it was to see. We then had the pleasure of taking them both back home and see Roxy’s reunion with her dad . A great big well done to Sorina for being so patient and sitting there in the cold and rain for several hours waiting for Roxy to come running into your arms. A wonderful ending to a very long 22 days .

We would like to say a massive thank you to the security team at Burnley Campus for your patience and hospitality and allowing us to place a trap and access to the grounds 24/7. Also a massive thank you to Aiden, the vicar, for allowing us to place cameras, feed stations and the second trap in your garden. Without this we would have really struggled to place these traps. It is hugely appreciated.

To Julie Fairclough, thank you so very much for your help with postering and being on stand by 24/7 to get to the trap should Roxy have gone in. You have been amazing, thank you. Thank you so much Debi Fellone for printing posters again . Also thank you to everyone who shared Roxy’s posts to raise public awareness and to everyone who phoned in with sightings, especially to those people who listened to our pleas not to approach her. We witnessed people walking past her and ignoring her. You kept Roxy safe for doing this, especially as she was next to a busy main road. THANK YOU.