Thursday 11th October 2007

“Dog-baiting victim is really a loving family dog”

In a bittersweet twist of fate - “Stitch”, the tattered and torn dog dumped at the AWL several weeks ago and thought to be the victim of illegal dog fighting, has been reunited with his original owners. Dubbed ‘Stitch’ by the horrified staff of AWL, the sweet natured Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross was dumped at the Stapylton pound several weeks ago covered in old scars and masses of new puncture wounds. ‘Stitch’, whose real name is Rex, was featured on TV news shortly after but it was not until his happy but battle-scarred face appeared on the front of the Gold Coast SUN newspaper that his long lost owners discovered him.

Justin and Amber Mawer, of Nerang, were forced to give up their beloved Rex last November when their landlord disallowed the pet. Mr Mawer said the family, who have two young children, were devastated and did everything they could, including moving house again, to keep Rex but were told by the new landlord also that they couldn’t have the dog.

“We ended up giving Rex to someone we thought would give him a good life, who had plenty of space for him to run,” said Mr Mawer.

“We hadn’t heard anything since until we saw the paper this morning and we knew immediately that it was our Rex – we were extremely upset.”

The Mawers contacted the AWL immediately and drove to the shelter to identify their dog, armed with photos taken prior to giving him up and family stories about his sweet nature and loyalty – despite being overjoyed to have him back, his injuries and scarred face had them in tears, just heartbroken.

Rex’s whereabouts since then, and the circumstances surrounding his injuries, are yet to be confirmed and the Mawers are uncertain about just how Rex ended up in such a situation.

However, as fate would have it, the Mawer family have now moved to a property where they can have pets and so are able to welcome their beloved and much missed pet back home.

Rachael Morgan from the Animal Welfare League said the shelter feels comfortable the Mawers are the original owners of Rex (Stitch) and were happy to hand him over once certain checks were made.

“It is so wonderful to see them, and Rex, so happy to be together again – Rex’s tail nearly fell off he was wagging it so hard,” she said.

“It is just so horrendous to know that such a loved family dog has been where he has been and used the way he has.”

Rex has gone home to Nerang with his family to get reacquainted with Amber, Justin and their two children.