Darcy's Legacy: How a missing dog from Salisbury is inspiring change on the railway
A group is working with Network Rail
Last updated 27th Jun 2022
A Wiltshire based group which helps find missing dogs is hoping owners, whose pets die on the railway, will have more more closure.
Solstice Missing Dogs has formed a good relationship with Network Rail in the local region to ensure the bodies of any animals are brought to them to be scanned to try and identify the owner.
Karen from the group said they had to do something;
"The railway don't have scanners so if a dog doesn't have a collar and tag on, which they may have lost on the run, they just get picked up and disposed of and an owner may never know what happened with their dog."
The group have now donated a scanner to Network Rail to make the procedure quicker and ensure no microchipped dogs slip through the net.
Responding on the local group's Facebook page Matt Hurst from the company said they were pleased to help;
"It is our absolute pleasure to help out when and where we can. We are animal lovers, pet owners and know that not knowing is always harder then the truth. Thank you to all who support Solstice Missing Dogs to enable them to supply us with the scanner. Hopefully we will never have to use it but if we do, my hope is that it will enable us to reunite a family with their pet."
Darcy's legacy
The measures were inspired by Darcy, a black Labrador that went missing while staying in the Salisbury area in 2017.
Her body was spotted on the railway at West Grimstead by a track worker who searched the internet for a missing pet matching her description and notified the group.
Solstice Missing Dogs said that 'act of kindness' lead to them contacting Network Rail and arranging for her body to be collected so Darcy could be returned to her resting place.
The subsequent changes with Network Rail have been dubbed 'Darcy's Legacy', Karen and her owners hopes now are that the measures will be embraced further afield so noone has to go through the heartache of not knowing what happened to their pet.