A dog adored by its owner has died after being scared to death by fireworks.
Heartbroken pub landlady Maxine Williams is adamant that firework displays should be restricted in order to save others from going through similar pain. Bronson, a dog rescued from starvation and went on to live a life of luxury, was found dead in a ditch two days after he bolted during a firework display.
Maxine said she will always be grateful for the kidness shown towards her after friends, families and strangers searched for Bronson. But, she said she still feels bitter towards the man who tried to blackmail her as she hunted for her dog.
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Maxine, 49, who runs the Crown and Liver pub in Ewloe, Flintshire, told North Wales Live : "I can’t tell you how much Bronson’s death has broken my heart.”
She added: “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.”
Bronson was abandoned on a back street in Limassol, Cyprus, aged just one and was rescued by June Ratcliff at Cyprus Pride House before he was sent for destruction in the island's so-called "kill centres". Maxine turned to June six years ago in a hunt for a companion for her Yorkshire terrier.
She paid £350 for the flight and drove down to Heathrow to collect him off the plane. Unusually for a stray, Bronson was a pure-bred Segugio Italiano, a breed so rare that it has been declassified by the Kennel Club. Maxine and Bronson quickly became inseparable and when her husband moved out he complained that she cared more about the dog, to which she replied he was right.
The pair holidayed together, ate together and drank their morning cups of coffee together, with Bronson always behaving off the lead. Issues only ever came on Bonfire Night. Maxine said: "Bronson was always terrified by the bangs.
"He'd tremble from head to toe and I'd have to support him through the evening."
This year's Bonfire Night fell on a Saturday and Maxine booked the night off from the pub to make sure she was with Bronson at her home in Sandycroft, Flintshire. Instead, she worked the Friday shift.
“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.”
Frantic with worry, she pieced together what had happened with the help of friends and neighbours. 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 toward the Airbus complex. They’d 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 and shared it everywhere. Friends, family and well-wishers joined the search. But Maxine 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.”
Bronson had been found in a ditch between Penyffordd and Dobshill five miles away. He appeared to have been hit by a car.
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.”
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