A SEARCH for a five-year-old terrier missing on Exmoor for over three weeks and involving up to 80 volunteers a day, had a happy ending this week when the runaway was returned to her joyful owner, apparently none the worse for her ordeal.

Border terrier Maggie disappeared from Luckyard Farm, Wheddon Cross, where her owner, Dawn Sterry, was on holiday, and over the next three weeks was sighted over a wide area of the moor from Dunkery to Timberscombe, before finally being found near Wootton Courtenay.

Volunteers searched hedges and ditches, fearing the worst, after reports that Maggie had been hit by a car.

“All my experience told me that Maggie wouldn’t survive being out on the moor for that long, but I am delighted to have been proved wrong,” said Sarah Gwilliam, Minehead-based West Somerset representative of the national charity DogLost, who co-ordinated the search.

She added: “I’ve never come across a case like this before. The community really took the plight of this little dog to their hearts. We had up to 80 people a day out searching, many of them holiday-makers who wanted to help.”

When Dawn, on holiday from the Forest of Dean, let the dog out after breakfast, Maggie ran off and did not come back: “It was the start of a three-week nightmare for Dawn and her six-year-old son”, Sarah said.

Sarah finally made contact with the runaway on the moor near Wootton Hill: There have been no after-effects and no evidence of injury.

“It’s the rest of us who are still recovering from being given the run-around by Maggie over the past three weeks!”

For the full story, see tomorrow’s Free Press