Cape Town – Table Mountain Watch has praised SA National Parks for helping to track down a Rhodesian ridgeback, Rusty, that had gone missing over three days.
The dog was last spotted at about 2pm on Friday above UCT and towards Rhodes Memorial on Table Mountain, after it had apparently bolted through gates.
Messages had been put out on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp groups to help find Rusty, drawing a large response.
Anastasia Saliukova posted on Facebook on Friday: "I saw him running on M3 today opposite Newlands Forest. I wish I knew he was missing earlier."
"Various sightings through Saturday but nothing much until one of the SANParks-Table Mountain National Park tactical rangers spotted him yesterday just after 2pm," Table Mountain Watch posted on Sunday.
"Rusty was skittish and bolted. His owner (Hugh Hacking) searched again all afternoon and into the evening
"Early this morning (Sunday) at 5.30 he responded to his owner's call. He'd stayed in the same area
"Happy ending. Rusty is okay. Tired out and sleeping right now. So is his owner. But happy.
"A big thank you to V of SANParks!! You stayed on from the start. Always willing to go the extra 17 miles!!!"
Carol Fitchet posted on Facebook: "I am sitting here absolutely sobbing!!!! Never been so happy to see such good news!!!! Poor Rusty, he must have been Sooo bewildered!!!"
Meanwhile, a Cape of Good Hope of SPCA team had to perform a tricky procedure to rescue three dogs that got stuck in a drain in Heideveld at the weekend, after being alerted to their predicament by a resident.
Once they were removed from the drain, the dogs were brought back to the SPCA in Grassy Park to recover.
