The heartbroken owner of a much-loved dog which died after bolting during a Bonfire Night display believes her pet was lirerally scared to death by fireworks. Bronson was found dead in a ditch, two days after bolting during a display.
To add to her distress, owner Maxine Williams had been blackmailed by a man as she searched to find her beloved pet. As reported by the Daily Post, she's now calling for restrictions on fireworks displays to prevent more animals losing their lives.
Bronson lived a life of luxury with pub landlady Maxine after a sorry start on the streets of Limassol in Cyprus. Left to wander, the starving pooch was impounded and destined for destruction in the island's so-called "kill centres".
He was rescued by Cyprus Pride House, a rescue charity run by June Ratcliff in the Troodos mountains. When Maxine saw pre-rescue photos of Bronson, emaciated, downcast and close to death, left her terrified, she felt compelled to help.
She adopted him six years ago and, before long, they developed an incredible bond. When her husband moved out, he complained Maxine cared more about the dog, and she told him he was right.
“I can’t tell you how much Bronson’s death has broken my heart,” said Maxine, 49, who runs the Crown and Liver pub, Ewloe, Flintshire, in North Wales. “He was everything to me.
"He lived like a lord but he was kind and gentle. People met him always said how special he was."
Each night Maxine tucked Bronson into her bed and snuggled up to him. And every morning she’d fetch up two coffees: one for her, one for him - “he always insisted,” she said.
Unusually for a stray, Bronson was a pure-bred Segugio Italiano, a breed that's the “darling of Italy" and one that’s so rare in the UK it’s been declassified by the Kennel Club. Its American equivalent describes Segugios as “loyal and personable” with “great heart and impeccable intelligence”.
”He was a beautiful dog and everyone loved him,” said Maxine. “He wasn’t a licky dog, he didn’t crave affection, but he was loyal and he had a personality people just seemed to like."
They went on holiday together, spent weekends away, went for long walks in Loggerheads country park near Mold. He was always well-behaved off the lead.
But he was terrified by the bangs on Bonfire Night. “He’d tremble from head to toe and I’d have to support him through the evening," said Maxine.
This year, she booked the Saturday night off - as it was Bonfire Night- to be with Bronson at home. Instead, she worked the Friday shift – but she never saw her beloved friend again.
“That night I arrived home and the patio door was open,” she said. “Bronson was nowhere to be seen and I thought someone might have taken him.”
But she now believes a teatime fireworks display had spooked Bronson. He’d opened a lounge door, pressed down the patio door handle and leapt over a 6ft garden fence.
Motorists had spotted him running along a road. Some had tried to stop to catch him, but traffic was backing up and by then Bronson had disappeared across farmland into woods.
Maxine posted an appeal on Facebook about her missing pet. Friends, families and complete strangers joined in the search and she thanked everyone who helped look for him..
But she began to lose heart. “I knew,” she said. “I wanted to believe but I had this feeling he was already gone.”
That night, at 10pm, she received a phone call. “Is that Maxine?” said the caller. “Have you lost a ginger-haired dog?” Her heart leapt.
“He wanted a finder’s fee,” said Maxine. “Luckily I’d been warned by Lost Dogs that a man was reading the appeals and blackmailing owners.
“Had I not known, I probably would have paid, I was that desperate. Instead, I put the phone down. I don’t know how anyone could be so cruel.”
The call she was dreading came the following morning. Bronson had been found in a ditch between Penyffordd and Dobshill five miles away. He appeared to have been hit by a car.
“I couldn’t bear to see him like that,” she said. “So I asked my daughter to take him to the crematorium.
"I was so upset I couldn’t go to work for two days. I just couldn’t cope.
“Even now I carry so much guilt around. Could I have done anything differently?
"Probably, but it’s easy to say that now. I can’t be at home all the time, I have to work.
“People who don’t have dogs perhaps don’t realise the bond owners can have with them. I’ve always had dogs but he was just special. He was my baby.
“My Yorkshire Terrier died earlier this year. I was upset but she was aged 17 and I could deal with that. This was different.”
As a young grandmother, Maxine appreciates the sense of wonder her grandchildren see in fireworks, and she doesn’t want to deprive them. But Bonfire Night has long stopped being a one-night celebration.
“I’m not saying this because of what has happened,” she said. “But it’s got too much.
"Fireworks now start weeks before November 5 and often continue for days afterward. If they went off just one night, at least owners of affected dogs would know when to be available to give them support.”
