Trigger

Trigger went Missing from South Penrith- 18th April 2021 – Message posted from owner: –

Hello, my puppy ran away from home at 12:30pm yesterday and I haven’t been able to find him since. He’s 4 months old.  He’s very shy and can be scared of males. I’m really worried about him as we only moved to the area a few days ago so he doesn’t know his way around. 

In the first week Trigger was sighted a few times…..then

Sabeen  wrote on Penrith, Hawkesbury & Surrounds – Lost & Found Pets – 23rd April · 
I’ve just seen Trigger on the M4 Eastbound. He’s hiding behind a railing. Please be careful if driving on the M4.
Seen between Mulgoa Road and Northern Road exit. M4 authorities and his owner have been notified. I’ve driven past twice.

Sabeen 24th April:- Are people willing to help look for Trigger who was seen on the M4 yesterday?  Trigger is a 4 month old cattle dog puppy who is very scared of strangers, he can be scared of males and is very shy. Missing from South Penrith.  If you are living anywhere near Mulgoa Road and the Northern Road or near any M4 exit.   Please keep an eye out for him.   Search areas: Mulgoa Road and the Northern Road. Surrounding streets, The M4, Streets near all M4 exits.  April 24th Last seen at this location on the Eastbound side last night by Ky Lee . We both did rounds of the M4, surrounding streets near the exits and could not sight him again last night.

The majority of the story is told by Ky Lee in her own words, interspersed with facebook comments and photos.

Ky Lee wrote: On Thursday 23 April, I travelled down the M4 motorway from Penrith towards the city, and my worst fear happened! On the side of the M4, in the 110km speed zone, I caught a glimpse of a pair of eyes. It was a dog from a glance, a young red cattle dog. Being at night, the M4 traffic had quietened down compared to the day. My immediate instinct was to pull over and open my passenger door, attempting to entice the dog to jump in. That was wishful thinking! I later questioned my actions from that point on, as reversing back down the M4 breakdown lane at night was not the smartest move, but I only hope my actions were what guided Trigger off the M4. Not being able to go any further, I had no choice but to drive off. I made several trips up and down the M4 that night with no further sightings. I also called the M4 transport line for assistance and made them aware that there was a dog on the M4.

After arriving home that evening, I searched all the lost pet pages in the area and came across a post on one of the local pages. As soon as I saw the post of Trigger missing from South Penrith, I knew it was him straight away! Trigger had already been missing for five days, having escaped from his new home of only three days, which was not too far from where I saw him on the M4. He hadn’t travelled far, just to the busiest and most dangerous road he could’ve possibly found! After my sighting, there were no further sightings of Trigger on the M4.

Two weeks went by before Trigger was sighted again. (Milly admin: which surprisingly happens often). I received a message from a local scanner, Sabeen, that Trigger had been seen in a vacant lot in Penrith. Sabeen and I jumped in my car and travelled to where Trigger was sighted to see if we could find him. This turned into a week-long stakeout of the area where Trigger was believed to be hiding out. After hours of searching both the vacant lot and adjacent land of the neighbouring worksite, we caught a glimpse of what looked like a dog in the long grass of the fenced-off worksite. We were lucky to have access to this area with the permission of the worksite tenants. We weren’t sure if it was a fox or Trigger. We know now that it was Trigger, as he had visited the worksite on a couple of occasions, and they provided information on Trigger; identifying his stumpy tail.

Sabeen and I, with the help of Elle, a volunteer with WIRES, and Bruce, another local scanner, spent countless hours staking out the area in hopes of sighting Trigger and as well as setting up and replenishing feed stations to keep him in the area.. During the day, there were literally no sightings. We began to discover how clever and elusive Trigger was. One of the smartest dogs I have met and only five months old. He appeared mostly at night and early hours of the morning. He was so quick that, at times, we thought multiple dogs were hiding out in the paddock, as he looked different every time. As the days went by, we started talking to some of the locals and discovered that he had been seen quite often. Some had seen him while riding their bike, another on their paper run at 1am, and another man who was feeding a family of foxes each night thought he was one of them. Trigger remained in the paddock as he had a food source meant for the foxes.

All the time we thought he was just hiding and then only appearing on Woodriff St, so we focused on there. But people kept sighting him running through the middle of the paddock. I looked at an aerial view of the paddock and noticed a pathway through the middle. We overlooked this until the night before, only to find him within minutes sitting along this path the next morning when Jo and Mark were with us.

On the last evening, before capturing Trigger, Sabeen and I froze in my car, just waiting for a sighting.

Trigger’s owner had been with us that day looking for him and left us with his blanket and one of his toys. That night his owner returned to look for him around 9:30pm. She spotted Trigger, sending me a message that she could see him playing outside the paddock. We also discovered his favourite toy we had left for him was gone; we were so excited!! She was calling out to Trigger, and he was barking in response to her. He knew she was close but not confident enough to come out. After all, he had been lost for four weeks by this point. We were amazed, as up until this point, it was almost impossible to sight him. After Trigger’s owner left that night, Sabeen and I sat in my car until 2am, sighting Trigger a few times. It was at 2am we realised that we were not going to catch Trigger. The only way was to trap him, and, at this point, we were very thankful that Milly’s Search and Trap Rescue were meeting us the next morning to help.

Zoomed in view of Trigger watching from a distance.

Jo and Mark from Milly’s Search and Trap Rescue met us at Trigger’s paddock at 8:30am that Saturday. Amazingly, we spotted Trigger sitting in the paddock, not being elusive at all.  I can only put this down to Trigger’s owner, having interacted with him the night before. He knew she was close by, and he was ready to go home. While we accessed the best way to capture Trigger, he watched us from a distance within the paddock. I even witnessed him closing in on Mark, who was crouched down in the paddock. I think Trigger thought Mark was his owner. Having watched Trigger over the past week, the plan was to place the trap outside the paddock. However, this would only allow us to capture him late at night, as that’s the only time he would appear. Given that Trigger was sitting out in the paddock quite visible on this day, it was suggested that perhaps we try and capture him in the paddock. Collectively, we decided to set the trap next to a tree in the paddock close to where Trigger was sighted in an attempt to capture him during the day.

Jo, Mark, Sabeen and I worked to set up the trap. Once set, we left the paddock and waited. Jo and MarK started to make their way back to the coast, and Sabeen and I decided to go and grab something to eat.

Suddenly, our phones started pinging with messages, sending through images from the camera set up in the trap. One after the other, they kept coming in. Within 5 minutes of Sabeen and I driving away, we quickly turned around and headed back. As we pulled up outside the paddock, the last image came through. It was Trigger, and he was in the trap! Sabeen and I were beside ourselves, and I don’t think either of us had run that fast in a long time 😊😊We were so relieved to see the beautiful Trigger inside that trap. He was just calmly sitting in there looking at us as if to say, so, you were just trying to help me all this time!

Upon releasing Trigger from the trap, Jo and Mark returned. We all could not believe our eyes. Jo and Mark described Trigger’s capture as the fastest in Milly’s history. They were expecting to leave the trap with us to be returned at a later date.

Once we had all given Trigger lots of hugs and pats, I made the call to Trigger’s owner to let her know we had captured Trigger and he was safe. Within 10 minutes, Trigger’s owner arrived at the paddock. As soon as Trigger heard her voice, he was in her arms. Seeing Trigger respond to his owner brought me to tears, but it also provided closure, knowing that the dog I sighted on the M4 had survived that night.

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Jo and Mark posted 14th May 2021
:We will be heading off tomorrow morning to Sydney to place a trap in hope of capturing this beautiful pup.
Trigger has been lost for a month now and disappeared for a few weeks until finally being sighted again this week. He is sticking to one area because of some amazing people from the community headed by Sabeen who have been feeding, searching and looking out for him. This boy now needs to be home.

Jo and Mark Facebook post 15th May 2021 
Today we got up at 6am and left home at 7am to help in the search for Trigger a 5mth old cattle dog lost in Penrith for the last month.   We were there to meet Sabeen and others from the community who have  been placing out food, searching and staking out an area this lost boy was in.

Arriving early we went for a walk and found the blanket the owner had left the night before for scent markings with paw prints all over it. YAH.

Taking the thermal imaging camera with us we used it to see if we could see any hot spots which will indicate he was there. No hot spots. Damn. Within 15mins of us arriving we meet Yvonne and Ky Lee, then Sabeen.
Let the search begin after a stroll around the area there he was head popping up out of the long grass our focus then changed from dropping the trap and running, to tracking an illusive little dog that would show his head from time to time.
This went on for a few hours until we decided lets get this trap set and pray. While setting the trap in the middle of the knee high grass paddock ok for a short arse like me hip height. Lol, who was watching the whole time, Trigger.

Trap set we all left then the dings to our phones started at first we could see nothing until there he is the sight we wanted. Trigger was outside the trap eating the tuna I had thrown around after a walk around the trap sniffing at the towel the owner had left in he walks.  Within 10mins from first sight to trap door closed his little adventure had come to an end. YAH.

Sabeen on Millys facebook:- Kylie  was who tried to save Trigger on the M4 and her wanting to find Trigger was a huge factor in this search. She tried to escape mention on social media but she and I combed a lot of bushland together. Her efforts and passion was great to see. It was a huge asset. This trap did in 15 minutes what we couldn’t for weeks.
I can’t state that enough. Thank you Milly’s Search and Trap Group

Ky Lee on Millys facebook Today was the best day. When you see a dog on a motorway like the M4 in Sydney, the outcome is not often good. I spotted him three weeks ago as I was driving home.  I stopped and probably shouldn’t disclose what I did next, but it did lead to Trigger getting off the M4 alive.  After sightings over the last week, Sabeen Syed and I began our stakeouts of Trigger, and with the help of the local community and Milly’s Search & Trap, we caught him today. Thanks Trigger, as this afternoon I have caught up on some much needed sleep, and I hope Sabeen  has too!! A special thank you to Jo & Mark….you guys are awesome.

Jo on Millys Facebook to Ky Lee and Sabeen:
You guys kept him in the paddock by feeding him and you did everything you could to keep him there, that should be congratulated.  When you got him off the M4 you really did save his life many dogs do not fair so well. You knew his traits, where he came in and out of the paddock, which really helped us to know what to do today and without that we really would have been flying blind.  What we loved most about working with you and Sabeen is we all listened to each other and worked out the best way to help Trigger. You both should be so proud of yourselves.

I (KyLee) check in with Trigger’s owner from time to time and am happy to report that Trigger is doing well and is more than happy to be back home safe and sound.