Xara, a 7-month-old dog, tragically lost her mom in an accident; she too was injured and ran away – this brought an entire community together to try and find her.
Gauteng, South Africa (04 March 2022) – On the 27th of February, along the N14 towards Pretoria, a car lost control and rolled. The accident was a fatal one with Annien Müller, the owner of Xara, the 7-month-old puppy, tragically passing. During the accident, Xara was injured but freed herself from the car and ran off.
Groups throughout the northern suburbs of Johannesburg started sharing the message so that Xara could be found and reunited with her dad Reino von Wielligh who had survived the accident. The various parties involved in the physical search had a good idea of where Xara had run to.
She took off towards Diepsloot through the fields and open space in that area. Tracking was started by Healthy Hound, a missing pet specialist that use a tracking dog to pick up the scent of missing animals. Diane, with her tracking hound Zizou went to the scene to try to pick up the scent of Xara.
Zizou tracked Xara’s scent to a dangerous section of Diepsloot, and they were advised not to continue into the area alone. The Dogs Trust, working in Diepsloot, assisted with the search inside the township thanks to their relationship with the community. Woodrock Animal Rescue also aided in coordinating search teams within the surrounding areas.
Diane and Zizou were invited to join The Dogs Trust within the community to continue the search. The township was crowded by free-roaming dogs and Zizou showing signs of exhaustion after four days of tracking; they sent Zizou home for a few days’ rest. Diane planned to bring in a new tracker dog to find Xara’s scent again, should the family need it.
Thankfully, after days of searching, Xara was found, quite close to where Zizou had tracked her original scent. The family were called in, and she was reunited with her dad. She has a cut underneath her eye and a cut on her foot but is in good health.
“PUPPY XARA HAS BEEN FOUND!
In the midst of absolute tragedy and heartache, comes JOY and JUBILATION. Puppy Xara has been found after days of search parties operating on the ground, via drones in the air, and widespread sharing on social media. THANK YOU ALL for your beautiful hearts. We may have many things that are very wrong in this world today – but the POWER OF LOVE, COMPASSION and SHARING IS ALIVE AND WELL. Tears of joy and relief. THANK YOU to the Dogs Trust team, the Woodrock Animal Rescue team, Diane and K9 Zizhou at Healthy Hound, Midrand (Sector 4) Sector Community Forum, Brent Robertson, Wendy Bowyer van Blerk, Isa Carter and the many other individuals who came together to mobilise physical and social media support in the quest to find this heartbroken, lost and scared pup.” – Chantelle Murray
While the family are facing incredible heartbreak and loss, they are happy to finally have Xara safely home and with them during this trying time. We wish to share our condolences with Reino and the family and wish Xara a speedy recovery.
“Hi Everyone, Reino here. From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank each one of you, just to name a few Dielie, Diane and Z, Rory , Noel, Anthony from Woodrock Animal Rescue, Rowen, Midrand CPF, Wendy, Cetric, my work colleagues from Epi-Use, I don’t know who all to thank, if I did not mention you, please know how grateful I am for your support and finding Xara.” – Reino von Wielligh
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