Lost dog miraculously found after a week on the run

Animal lovers frantically searching for a dog rescued from a life of misery in Serbia, who went missing in Hackney the day after he was re-homed here, finally tracked him down six miles from where he escaped a whole week before.

Oscar, an 18 month old Husky Labrador cross, slipped his collar in Stoke Newington Common on Sunday November 23 while out walking with his new owner.

Volunteers from dog charity Serbia’s Forgotten Paws, which re-homed Oscar, came from as far afield as Portsmouth, once they realised on Thursday he had gone missing, and were out looking for him day and night.

The Gazette made an online appeal asking readers to report any sightings of Oscar, and by a stroke of luck he was found in a cluster of trees in Alexandra Palace at 1am this morning.

Jovana Ivaseanin, trustee of the charity, who picked out Oscar as a candidate for re-homing because of his gentle temperament after he was dumped as a tiny puppy with his nine siblings, led the search party to find him.

She described how they were about to eat Sunday lunch at 5pm after not eating all day, but once they were told Oscar had been spotted at Alexandra Palace they rushed straight up to the park, which by that time was pitch black.

Ms Ivaseanin said: “We were walking around and calling him, nothing, nothing, nothing, we walked in silence, and then l saw a dark figure approaching with a head torch, his wife rung had seen Oscar earlier and he came back to check if he was still there.

“They bought some KFC chicken at midday to keep Oscar in the area, he led us through bushes and trees, Oscar was so well hidden, the man had an infrared light to see in the dark.”

When they found Oscar he was lying down and terrified.

After several failed attempts to capture him, they called Oscar’s foster carer Kelly, who made a two-hour drive from Portsmouth with a dog Oscar is familiar with, to lure him in.

“You could see in his little face he remembered them but he was too petrified to move,” said Ms Ivaseanin.

“Kelly was calling him over and he came very close, but then he started walking backwards.

“She backed away and threw food, he came close enough for her to touch, and the moment she touched him he started to cuddle her.

“It was like he forgot everything, she was desperately trying not to let him go.”

Ms Ivaseanin said they are all exhausted but relieved and happy.

“I’ll sleep well tonight, we have been on autopilot for as long as we knew he was missing, none of us have been sleeping more than two or three hours, you can’t describe that feeling, it’s just so amazing the lady spotted him in the first place.”