Darcie's Fundraiser

Darcie went missing in the Forest of Dean on 23/11 and after 12 days of adventures around the woods, Darcie was reunited with her family. Along the way, there have been many individuals and charities that have helped us along the way and this is who we are raising money for. Some individuals have gone unrecognised for their work but have played a vital role in bringing Darcie home. Michael Bateman traveled from South Wales to help with the search to bring Darcie home, his expertise along with Ally Knight’s skills in also trapping dogs played a pivotal role in securing Darcie. It is individuals like Ally and Michael that we would like to raise money for to help dogs in the future who may go missing.

For example, due to the vast nature of the forest, Michael was unable to use his ring camera which he would normally use for trapping. Therefore, he would have to go back and forth into the woods to check the trap. Michael has been now looking at other devices that don’t require WiFi and could be used in environments like the Forest of Dean. Another example of other equipment that these individuals could have benefited from is additional cameras. We could have really done with about 10 more cameras out as Darcie was going between several locations, it was only on the final day was she actually cited on camera, one of Ally’s camera’s that she had personally bought.

These individuals are amazing and if we can raise some money to help what they do, they can continue to do the amazing work they do.

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Darcie’s story

Darcie went missing on 23/11/23 and was missing for 12 days. In that time search parties managed to find all of her harness, lead, and coat that were nestled in the undergrowth in the woods. Volunteers and spotters walked the length and breadth of the Mallards Pike to Speech House Woods looking for Darcie. Sightings came in but due to the nature of the woodlands and the lack of phone signal, we would travel out to follow up these sightings but have no luck.

On day 11, there was a breakthrough. We thought that Darcie may have found shelter in one of the quieter woodlands opposite where she went missing, she had been spotted there previously and there were a lot fewer people walking in there. On day 11, Darcie was captured several times on camera and we knew that if we got it right, we would have Darcie home. With Ally and Michael’s expertise and experience, they made the decision to move the trap to that area, and at night, after a couple of hours of the trap being there, Darcie was caught and her adventure came to an end.

This time has been extremely difficult but what has kept us going is the amazing people we have come to meet. There are so many people we want to thank, we couldn’t have done it without you. So many people have walked the area at all hours of the day and it was because of you that we kept positive - you are all amazing. We will never have enough words to express our gratitude but we want to say a big THANK YOU to you all.