A dog hit by a train found its way back home after 10 days missing – despite having a broken leg.
Two-year-old Ronnie disappeared from his garden in Tunbridge Wells after being spooked by fireworks.
The much-loved beagle was feared dead after a train driver reported hitting a dog matching his description.
Owner Jo Wackett, an air hostess, said: “Ronnie isn’t usually scared of fireworks, but there was a particularly loud bang and my partner, Grant, saw him scrambling over our gate, which was quite an effort as it’s fairly high.
“As soon as I found out he’d escaped I put posts on social media and was contacted by a train driver who saw Ronnie on the tracks and believes his train hit him as it rounded a bend.
“It happened close to our local station, High Brooms, and when I sent him a photo of Ronnie, he was positive it was the dog he’d seen.
“The train driver was devastated, but I came off the phone with some closure about what had happened.
“As there were no further sightings of Ronnie, we assumed the worst and told our daughter he wasn’t ever coming home.
“We were all absolutely heartbroken and completely grieving for Ronnie.”
A few days later, Ms Wackett received some unexpected news when a friend phoned to say they’d seen the family pet close to her home.
She said: “We were driving to the coast to give our daughter a treat after such a tough time, but we turned around and rushed back towards home.
“After searching for a while, we called it a day as our other dog, Marley, was getting tired.
“When we got back home I found a note pushed through the letterbox saying someone had seen Ronnie in the local park and followed him home to our house.
Because he was injured, they took him to the local vets.
“When we got there, Ronnie was so happy to see us.
“I sat on the floor and he put his head on my shoulder for a proper cuddle and he left it there for a couple of minutes.
“He was thin, covered in nasty cuts and his leg was badly broken, but he was alive and that was all that mattered.”
Ronnie, who is named after the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, was referred to Anderson Abercromby, a veterinary practice in Warnham, West Sussex, where he was treated for a broken leg.
As Ronnie’s injury was already several days old, the natural healing process had kicked in, making repairing the bone more challenging.
Federico Piccinno, the surgeon who carried out the operation, said: “Ronnie was extremely thin when he was admitted to the practice, and he wasn’t able to use his left hind leg or put weight on it.
“He also had several wounds on his body which looked like friction burns. X-rays were taken which showed that the leg was broken in several places.
“Often, we’d repair this type of fracture with metal plates, but there was a lot of thickening around the fracture site because the bone and soft tissue was already starting to repair itself.
“To give Ronnie the best chance of a full recovery, we used an external fixator, which is like a small metal frame, to realign the bones and keep them in place. This was kept in position for around 12 weeks.
“Ronnie coped very well with it. He was able to recover at home, but only allowed restricted exercise on the lead so he couldn’t run around too much as he’s quite an energetic dog.”
He added: “His injury was caused by a low- to medium-energy impact, so it is possible he could have suffered a glancing blow from a train.
“He could also have been injured if he jumped away from the train at the last minute and fell.
“His other wounds were very similar to burns or abrasions, which may have been caused by debris flying up from train tracks.”
